UNAMID DEPLOYMENT UPDATE, MARCH 12, 2009

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000347 DEPT FOR AF A A/S CARTER, AF/SPG, AF/C NSC FOR MGAVIN AND CHUDSON ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ASEC PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU SUBJECT: UNAMID DEPLOYMENT UPDATE, MARCH 12, 2009 REF: A) KHARTOUM 310 B) KHARTOUM 227 C) KHARTOUM 191 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: Construction is slated to begin shortly on the facilities necessary for the May arrival of the Ethiopian attack helicopters, but the GOS has yet to convey its approval of their arrival to UNAMID. Nepalese authorities have scheduled an official UNAMID pre-deployment visit in May, pushing the arrival of these specialized units back to August or September. UNAMID has welcomed no new arrivals in the past week, but various companies are smoothly transferring to their assigned locations in Sector South. UNAMID has taken some steps to provide protection to food warehouses and to ensure water distribution to IDPs near El Fasher. End summary. ¶2. (SBU) According to Colonel Noddy Stafford, UNAMID chief of J5 plans, this week Ethiopian and Chinese engineers will be in Nyala to "walk the ground" in preparation for the commencement of construction of base facilities for the Ethiopian helicopter battalion. UNMIS has arranged for 90 UNMIS Chinese engineers to travel directly from Wau to Nyala to initiate construction plans including the helicopter hard landing area, the extension of the access road, weapons storage, a covered servicing area, pilots' accommodation, and various avionics shops. The engineers will succeed in constructing the facilities rather quickly, according to Stafford, but the final sticking point - whether the Sudanese will actually permit the helicopters to go to Darfur - has not been resolved yet. ¶3. (SBU) Nepalese specialized units slated to arrive in Darfur will host an official pre-deployment visit (PDV) in May for senior UNAMID officials to inspect contingent-owned equipment before it is shipped to Darfur. Once the PDV is concluded, UNHQ will receive the formal load lists of Nepalese cargo, and the cargo will then be sent to Darfur. Scheduled for arrival 120 days after the May PDV, the Nepalese contingent's equipment will be due in August or September of this year. Stafford was unaware that the Nepalese had requested US airlift assistance, and assumed that the would use a contractor to bring the equipment in by road from Port Sudan to El Fasher, as other contingents had done. (Note: Darfur's nominal rainy season will most likely not interfere with the arrival of the equipment by land, as the land route from El Obeid to El Fasher is rarely inaccessible during August and September. End note.) ¶4. (SBU) Progress in peacekeeping deployment continues apace, with no recent arrivals of peacekeepers occurring over the last week. All but one peacekeeping battalion is currently at full strength, with the South African contingent still awaiting additional engineering work to be completed at their camp in northeastern North Darfur. UNAMID has successfully transferred a Nigerian company from El Geneina to Sector South, and a Senegalese company has since replaced the Nigerians. With the 183 peacekeepers from the first Egyptian battalion having arrived directly via Egyptian C-130s from Egypt to El Fasher on March 2, UNAMID will soon welcome an advance party of the second Egyptian battalion to Sector South, constructing its own camp from scratch in Eid Al Fursan. The most pressing deployment issue at this time is the stymied arrival of the second Ethiopian battalion, heading to Geraida in Sector South. Ethiopian peacekeepers are currently frustrated by their inability to get equipment from Addis Ababa to Darfur, and have proposed a 170-vehicle overland convoy to travel 3000 kilometers from Addis to South Darfur. ¶5. (SBU) Following the GOS decision to expel 13 Western NGOs engaged in humanitarian delivery in Darfur, UNAMID has taken tentative steps to prepare for the humanitarian fallout that lays ahead. UNAMID is currently safeguarding warehouses in Kass and Gereida to prevent looting by any group, and has begun outreach to local IDP populations in North Darfur from UNAMID HQ in EL Fasher. Having just organized a recent, high-level visit to Zam Zam IDP camp, Stafford remarked, "You don't have to do much for the IDPs to instill confidence in UNAMID," adding that UNAMID is currently delivering water there. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: UNAMID deployment is proceeding slowly but steadily. However, t following the ICC indictment of President Bashir there is no expectation that officers from France, Britain and the U.S. will ever be allowed to join the mission. It is highly likely that, following the expulsion of the 13 INGOs, UN agencies as well as UNAMID will begin to play a more high-profile role in providing some critical services to IDP camps. No one expects, though, that either UNAMID or UN agencies have the resources to fill the enormous assistance gaps already being felt in Darfur due to these ill-considered expulsions. FENRNANDEZ