UPDATE ON DARFUR PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENT FOR 17 JANUARY 2008

CONFIDENTIAL C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000048 SIPDIS SIPDIS IO AND AF FOR FRONT OFFICE; PLEASE PASS TO SE WILLIAMSON E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/17/2018 TAGS: AF, PGOV, PREL, SU, NSC, UNSC KPKO, MOPS SUBJECT: UPDATE ON DARFUR PEACEKEEPING DEPLOYMENT FOR 17 JANUARY 2008 REF: A. USUN 26 B. STATE 5054 Classified By: Ambassador Jackie Wolcott, for reason 1.4 (b) and (d) 1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraph 3. 2. (C) SUMMARY: The UK Permanent Mission to the UN (UKUN) hosted a donors meeting on January 16 to solicit TCCs for the UNAMID shortfalls of helicopters and transportation assets. The Government of the Sudan (GOS) continues to obstruct UNAMID deployment in two key ways: 1) non-concurrence on the TCC list; and 2) land issues. UN officials have expressed some optimism that discussions with the GOS on the status of forces agreement (SOFA) are moving forward. Major General Five, Acting UN Military Advisor, is scheduled to visit Washington January 24 to discuss US-UN coordination on UNAMID. END SUMMARY. 3. (C) Force Generation. - The UKUN hosted a TCC/donors meeting to solicit helicopters for UNAMID on January 16. DPKO opened the meeting with a summary of what the UN has done to date in an attempt to acquire helicopters. UKUN led a subsequent discussion of options for meeting the UNAMID capability shortfalls, focusing on ideas to divide the missing helicopter capabilities into more manageable components, i.e. pilots, equipment, maintenance. - In attendance from the UN Secretariat were Jane Holl-Lute, Acting Under Secretary for the Department of Field Support (DFS), Max Kerley from DFS, Mike Gaouette, head of the Darfur Integrated Operations Team, LTC Adrian Garside, head UN Military planner for UNAMID, William Stutt, Acting Director of DPKO,s Force Generation Service and LTC Tim House, FGS UNAMID desk officer. - Also in attendance were representatives the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU) and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as Military Advisors from Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Ethiopia, Egypt, France, Italy, India, Indonesia, Jordan, Morocco, Denmark, Greece, Russia, South Africa, Senegal, Ukraine, Vietnam and the US. Invitations had been issued to 60 countries. - In response to a question pertaining to contracted helicopters, Jane Holl-Lute said the UN has contracted twenty-four transport helicopters for Darfur. Lute reiterated that these helicopters are for administrative lift and re-supply only. The twenty-four helos envisioned for air assault and close air support missions within UNAMID are a distinct military capability and must be provided by TCCs. - USUN MilAds asked the UN for a list of countries that have pledged helicopters and an explanation of why their offers did not meet UNAMID requirements, as DPKO has informed us is the case. The member states could then examine the shortfalls and possibly provide equipment upgrades to meet UN standards. Mr. Stutt agreed to provide this information. - With regard to inter-mission transfer of helicopter assets, the Ukrainian Military Advisor stated the Ukrainian Mission had received a Dip Note from the UN requesting the movement of their helicopters from UNMIL to UNAMID. He stated that his government was considering the request, but that the new Ukrainian Parliament would likely take two or three months to address this issue. - (BEGIN ACTION REQUEST: USUN recommends Dept. request Embassy Kiev approach the GOU concerning this request, and the possibility of prioritizing this on the incoming parliament's agenda. END ACTION REQUEST.). - The UN representatives closed the meeting with a request for TCCs to consult with their capitals and obtain firm offers of what helicopter assets each can provide, adding that, at this point, the UN felt compelled to consider all offers, even if they did not meet requirements or USUN NEW Y 00000048 002 OF 002 capabilities. Holl-Lute added that if funding was an issue to let her know and she would do what she could to work it. The UK Military Advisor closed the meeting by asking the attendees to reconvene on 30 January with responses from their capitals. At that time the member states present and DPKO will review what, if any, composite units might be generated. - There is still no TCC for the missing transportation units. 4. (C) UNAMID deployment. --TCC list: The GoS still has not formally approved the TCC list and is dug in on its position that assets from all African TCCs must be "exhausted" prior to GOS's acceptance of a non-African TCC. This contrary position will continue to significantly hamper force generation and deployment of UNAMID. -- Land issues: The GOS has unilaterally decided that the site of the planned camp near El-Geneina is too close to the airport and is therefore unacceptable. Other sites are still being considered. -- SOFA approval: The GoS promised an interlocutor to negotiate the SOFA with the UN on 13 Dec 07. SOFA negotiations are underway with the recently arrived GoS representative. -- TCC progress: MOU negotiations are underway for Ethiopia and Egypt in New York. Last week's statements pertaining to conditions under which the Egyptians will deploy have been overcome and, according to DPKO, negotiations are progressing. (ref A) 5. (C) Per ref B, USUN is facilitating the visit of acting UN Military Advisor Major General Five to Washington to explain the UN procurement process for TCCs and to coordinate on how the U.S. might best target bilateral support to African TCC's for UNAMID. This meeting is scheduled for 24 January and will include representatives from the UK, France, Canada and the Netherlands, all of whom are significant TCC donors largely through the Global Peace Initiative Operations Program (GPOI). KHALILZAD