VZCZCXRO4819
OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBZ RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHDU RUEHFL RUEHGI
RUEHIK RUEHJO RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHPOD
RUEHRN RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHTRO RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUCNDT #0895/01 2930025
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 200025Z OCT 07
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2838
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000895 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: AF PGOV PHUM PREL SU
SUBJECT: DARFUR: RWANDANS DRIVING HARD APC BARGAIN WITH UN 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  With United States Air Force C-17's 
standing by on October 19 in Kigali to facilitate transport 
to Darfur, a Rwandan infantry battalion balked at boarding. 
The Rwandans wanted an assurance that any damage in Darfur to 
the 18 armored personnel carriers they were bringing with 
them would be reimbursed by the United Nations.  When a 
memorandum of understanding on these liability issues, under 
negotiation for the past three months, could not be concluded 
before the C-17's arrived, USUN intervened with senior UN 
leadership to help craft a letter, borrowing language from 
the UN model MOU, explaining that the UN was undertaking to 
cover damage to the vehicles not caused by fault of the 
Rwandans.  The UN has transmitted that letter to the Rwandan 
Mission in New York. The text of the letter follows in 
paragraph 6.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Throughout the day of October 19, USUN received 
reports from the Department and elsewhere that two Air Force 
C-17 aircraft were standing by in Kigali to transport an 
infantry battalion of Rwandan troops to Darfur where they 
were slated to provide force protection for the Heavy Support 
Package (HSP) to the African Union Mission in Sudan (AMIS). 
The aircraft were also to transport 18 Rwanda-owned armored 
personnel carriers to Darfur for use by the deploying troops. 
 The transport of the troops and APC's to Darfur and 
redeployment of Rwandan troops serving with AMIS was to 
require ten days with two round-trips per day. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Evidently the Government of Rwanda refused to order 
the troops to deploy from Kigali because three months of 
UN-GOR negotiations had failed to produce an agreement 
regarding liability for any deployment-related damage to the 
18 APC's.  The negotiation impasse, according to UN sources, 
stemmed from vastly different UN and Rwandan appraisals of 
the value of the APC's. 
 
¶4. (SBU) When the Department informed USUN that the GOR would 
be willing to accept a stopgap UN letter assuming liability 
in principle with the values to be worked out subsequently, 
Ambassador Wolcott contacted UN Office of Mission Support 
A/SYG Jane Holl Lute, on travel in Europe, and convinced her 
that the deployment window offered by the dedicated C-17's 
was rapidly closing.  Lute charged Maxwell Kerley, Acting 
Logistics Support Director, with coordinating with the UN 
Office of Legal Affairs and USUN the drafting of a letter 
addressing the Rwandan concerns as reported.  Kerley 
ultimately produced and signed the letter reprinted in 
paragraph 6 below and delivered it to the Rwandan Mission in 
New York. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Kerley explained that the second paragraph of the 
letter is based on a UN model MOU and has the UN assuming 
liability for any damage to any of the APC's not caused by 
fault of the Rwandans themselves.  He added that "any APC 
anywhere in the world has a value greater than $250,000" so 
that the UN thereby clearly assumes responsibility for the 
full value of the APC's, whatever that exact value is later 
determined to be. 
 
¶6. (SBU) 
 
Begin Text: 
 
The Secretariat of the United Nations presents its 
compliments to the Permanent Mission of the Republic of 
Rwanda to the United Nations and has the honour to assure you 
that with respect to your deployment of 18 APC Wheeled 
Infantry Carrier-armed to DARFUR the following regulations 
apply with regards to liability; 
 
Under the wet lease arrangement the rates include a no fault 
factor whereby the UN undertakes to cover loss of or damage 
to equipment in a no-fault incident.  In the case of loss or 
damage from a single hostile action or forced abandonment, 
the United Nations will assume liability for each item of 
major equipment when the collective generic value is above 
$250,000. 
 
In this regard a draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has 
been prepared which forms the basis for formal negotiations 
leading to a signed MOU. 
 
The Secretariat of the United Nations avails itself of this 
opportunity to renew to the Permanent Mission of the Republic 
of Rwanda to the United Nations the assurances of its highest 
consideration. 
 
 
 
USUN NEW Y 00000895  002 OF 002 
 
 
                                          S/ MK 
 
                                        19 October 2007 
 
 
 
 
 
 
End Text. 
 
 
KHALILZAD