SUDAN/UNMIS: UK THINKS MANDATE FUNDAMENTALLY

UNCLAS LONDON 000773 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPARTMENT FOR IO/PSC, AF/SPG E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPKO UNSC MASS SU UK SUBJECT: SUDAN/UNMIS: UK THINKS MANDATE FUNDAMENTALLY SOUND, BUT WANTS RE-NEWED FOCUS ON BORDER, ELECTIONS, DDR AND JIU ¶1. (SBU) The mandate for the United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) is "fundamentally sound," but should be revised to focus on the border/disputed areas, elections, DDR, and the Joint Integrated Units (JIUs),Foreign Office Peacekeeping Officer Chris Hunter told poloff March 27. Given the current UNSC atmospherics on Darfur, the UK does not think it would be helpful to seek sweeping changes in the mandate. ¶2. (SBU) Hunter provided the following specific UK remarks on the mandate: - UNMIS should consider its organizational structure and deployment of resources in light of the changed environment and at this critical junction in the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). The recent force capability review is welcome and the UNSC should call on UNMIS to continue to review force deployment and to implement its recommendations. The UK considers this issue particularly important given the risk that localized fighting has the potential to escalate and cause serious damage to the CPA process. - The JIUs remain a priority, both for the benefits they offer where they work and for the risks to the CPA where they do not work. The UK would like to see the JIU language in the mandate remain, with modification to encourage UNMIS to take more of a lead in reforming and developing JIUs. The UK wants to see a support cell set up or at least a plan for how to support the JIUs soon after the mandate renewal. Benchmarks may be helpful. - DDR has moved on since the strategic plan was mobilized, but remains critical to the success of the CPA. The UK would like to see the mandate renewal welcome the beginning of the DDR pilot program and encourage on-going support to the DDR process, particularly to assist in verifying destruction and monitoring the process of reintegration. DDR would be well served by a new set of benchmarks beyond those suggested by the April SRSG report. - The elections language in the current mandate is largely acceptable, but it should underscored that UNMIS could play a useful role in providing and supporting security in the run up to and during the elections. - The referendum should be mentioned in the mandate, as getting things in order well in advance will be helpful down the line. - Language on the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is not a priority for UNMIS in the UK's view. The UK does not support asking UNMIS to undertake operations against the LRA, but does favor increased cooperation between the UN missions. The UK would welcome introduction of language that calls for the appointment of liaison officers and calls on the UN missions to continue to work closely on issues regarding the LRA. ¶3. (SBU) In an effort to make the peacekeeping operations more strategic and effective, the UK supports a set of benchmarks by which UNMIS performance can be measured and would help the UNSC assess progress over the coming year. While the benchmarks will have to be synchronized with strategies for each line of operation - particularly on DDR, elections, and the JIUs - they would be a useful measurement tool. The UK is pulling together some suggestions which could either form part of the mandate renewal or as the basis for a call for the SYG to develop benchmarks over the coming year. ¶4. (SBU) Hunter provided some suggested language for changes to the resolution text, forward to IO/PSC and AF/SPG. Visit London's Classified Website: http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Unit ed_Kingdom LEBARON