UN LOWERING SIGHTS ON UNAMID DEPLOYMENT TIMELINE

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000805 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: AF PGOV PREL KPKO SU SUBJECT: UN LOWERING SIGHTS ON UNAMID DEPLOYMENT TIMELINE REF: A. USUN 794 ¶B. USUN 711 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: UN Under-Secretary-General (U/SYG) for Field Support Malcorra acknowledged to Ambassador DiCarlo that the UN will not be able to meet its goal of 80 percent deployment of UNAMID by December. Malcorra agreed that the UN should consider going public with this information. She offered to brief officials in Washington about UNAMID,s logistical needs, especially involving airlift, and was open to a small, private meeting of UN officials at headquarters to coordinate logistical priorities. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) In her first meeting with U/SYG for Field Support (DFS) Susana Malcorra, Ambassador DiCarlo reiterated U.S. support for DFS and called for acceleration of UNAMID deployment. DiCarlo pushed Malcorra to more clearly specify UNAMID,s logistical needs, and Malcorra said she was open to a small meeting involving relevant UN offices and major donor states to agree upon uniform priorities either at the working or a more senior level. She noted that while she views member-states as critical stakeholders, this view is not widely shared among her UN colleagues. ¶3. (SBU) Malcorra acknowledged that the SYG,s stated goal of 80 percent deployment by the end of December could not be met and said 60-65 percent is more realistic for 2008 with 80 percent achievable by the end of the first quarter in 2009. DiCarlo encouraged Malcorra to discuss with her UN colleagues making this information publicly available, noting that if the UN continues to maintain the 80 percent figure publicly, the failure to meet this goal in December will undermine the mission,s credibility. Malcorra agreed to pursue this. ¶4. (SBU) Malcorra said she considers the biggest logistical priority for UNAMID to be airlift for both Troop Contributing Country (TCC) forces and equipment. She clarified that the bottleneck of containers at the Port of Sudan has improved. Malcorra said helicopters remain a priority to facilitate fast movement of troops, with surveillance capability being a secondary concern. Regarding camp construction, she will meet with the Ethiopians and Egyptians this week to press for light deployment, i.e. troops being self-sustaining by setting up their own camps. Indicating that she appreciates the emphasis that the United States attaches to a successful UN operation in Darfur, Malcorra offered to travel to Washington to brief officials in the executive and legislative branches if this would be helpful. Khalilzad