VZCZCXRO7040
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1548/01 1831237
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 021237Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3495
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001548 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/01/2016 
TAGS: PREL KPKO PGOV SOCI US UN AU SU
SUBJECT: SUDAN:  UN SUPPORT FOR DPA IMPLEMENTATION 
 
Classified By: Pol/Econ Chief E. Whitaker, Reason:  Section 1.4 (b) and 
 (d) 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  Despite GNU opposition to UNPKO in Darfur, 
the UN is preparing several avenues of support for the DPA, 
including transferring resources to the AU and seconding 
staff.  It also hopes to coordinate other donor DPA support, 
such as the two recently arrived UK media advisors.  Top 
priorities are the Darfur-Darfur Dialogue and Consultation 
process and the Transitional Darfur Regional Authority. 
Other important events include the July 18 &non-pledging 
conference8 and the anticipated mid-July UN Security Council 
meeting.  While the legal status of those who signed the 
Declaration of Commitment has not yet been settled, the UN 
hopes they will be allowed access to the DPA Implementation 
Offices.  End summary. 
 
Christofides Lays Out UN Support Activities for DPA 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶2. (SBU) Pol/Econ Counselor and ARC officers met with UNMIS 
Director for Political Affairs Jack Christofides and Senior 
Rule of Law Officer Susan Page to brief UNMIS on Embassy 
plans to support the AU in DPA implementation, including 
standing up the DPA Implementation Offices in Khartoum and El 
Fasher.  Per Christofides, the UN is not letting the GNU,s 
present opposition to a transition to a UN peacekeeping 
operation stand in the way of scaling up its activities to 
support the DPA.  UNMIS views movement on the Darfur-Darfur 
Dialogue and Consultation (DDDC) process and identification 
of possible members of the Transitional Darfur Regional 
Authorities as top priorities, and is mobilizing its 
organizational efforts and the force of its good offices to 
jumpstart activities in these efforts.  At the same time, the 
UN is working to solicit the support of the non-signatories 
to the DPA. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Christofides said that much of the UN,s added value 
lies in its ability to organize and coordinate donor efforts. 
 It had therefore assigned its Director of Civil Affairs, 
Tesfaye Tadesse, as its point person on the DDDC, who will 
now begin to pressure the GNU and the DPA signatories to 
focus on dates and a process.  The DDDC preparatory committee 
needs to be formed and activated as soon as possible; he 
added that advice and experience from those involved in the 
Afghan Loya Jirga experience would be useful input. 
 
UN Staff to Backstop AU Efforts 
------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) UNMIS is also in the process of providing the AU 
with staffing to flesh out its precariously thin political 
section, and has already seconded Primrose Oteng, a mid-level 
officer, to AU Darfur Special Representative Ambassador Sam 
Ibok,s staff.  Senior Rule of Law Officer Page heads the 
team working with the AU.  Finally, Christofides said the UN 
is looking at options via a special provision to allow the AU 
to make use of UN assets, though he did not go into further 
detail. 
 
UK Media Advisors, Office Space Needs, and UN DPA Road Show 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Meanwhile, two UK-provided media advisors arrived in 
Sudan on March 25 and are currently in El Fasher holding 
meetings with AMIS.  The UK and Dutch national media advisors 
plan to spend two weeks in-country developing a strategic 
communications plan for the AU in support of the DPA before 
returning to the UK to brief out and receive approval. 
Long-term plans are for the advisors to work under the AU, 
most likely out of the USG-funded DPA Implementation 
Offices/Peace Secretariats in Khartoum and El Fasher, and 
provide the mission with a much needed public diplomacy 
capacity, publicize the DPA, and combat widespread 
misconceptions of its content.  The UN supports allowing 
those who signed the Declaration of Commitment to also 
benefit from use of these facilities; he noted the Darfur 
Joint Assessment Mission is also interested in office space. 
(Note:  UNMIS has launched its own &internal road show8 for 
19 of its field offices in order to brief its own staff on 
the DPA so that they understood it properly themselves.  This 
includes "eroding negative information."  End note.) 
 
UN Underscores Two Upcoming Events 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Christofides underscored the importance of two 
upcoming events:  1) the July 18 meeting that will take place 
in Brussels, which he said would involve a request for $400 
million in support for three baskets ) economic, security, 
and political; and 2) an anticipated mid-July UN Security 
 
KHARTOUM 00001548  002 OF 002 
 
 
Council meeting, which he said would outline measures to take 
to strengthen AMIS in the absence of authority to implement a 
UN peacekeeping operation. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) The Embassy and ARC plan to coordinate closely with 
UNMIS, its seconded staff at the AU, and the UK advisors in 
order to assure as much coverage and as little overlap as 
possible.  Christofides felt that other nations and 
organizations were also staffing up and planning to offer 
additional support, which the UN hoped to coordinate and 
track via a matrix.  These are early positive signs that the 
UN will be able to bolster AU efforts on the political track, 
something the AU needs. 
HUME