VZCZCXRO8996
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 #1086/01 3331348
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 291348Z NOV 07
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3210
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 001086 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
IO AND AF FOR FRONT OFFICE; PLEASE PASS TO SE NATSIOS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL UNSC KPAL SU MOPS
SUBJECT: UN: DARFUR POLITICAL AND SECURITY TRACKS STALLED 
 
REF: LEVINSON-IO EMAILS 11/27/07 
 
¶1. (U) SUMMARY: In back-to-back briefings to the Security 
Council at a November 27 open debate, Special Envoy Jan 
Eliasson and DPKO U/SYG Jean Marie Guehenno told Council 
members that both the political and security tracks of the 
Darfur peace process are stalled.  Eliasson told the Council 
he needs more time to bring about a convergence of the rebel 
positions.  Guehenno rebuked the Government of the Sudan's 
(GOS) ongoing obstructions of UNAMID deployment and reported 
that the Sudanese are now attempting to add unacceptable 
provisions to the UNAMID status of forces agreement (SOFA). 
Guehenno said that if the UN is unable to find troop 
contributing countries (TCCs) to meet UNAMID shortfalls of 
helicopters and transportation units by the transfer of 
authority on December 31, the Security Council would have to 
consider "sub-optimal" solutions to address the unanticipated 
weakness of the peacekeeping force.  Sudanese PermRep 
Abdalmahmood Mohamad called on the Security Council to 
sanction rebel groups and said that the remaining issues 
surrounding UNAMID deployment could be resolved through the 
Tripartite Commission (UN, AU and the GOS).  He also 
admonished Guehenno for raising deployment issues in a public 
meeting.  AMB Khalilzad stated that progress in resolving the 
Darfur crisis required sustained commitment and action the 
GOS, TCCs, rebels, the UN, and the AU.  END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------ 
SE Eliasson Asks for More Time 
For Rebel Convergence 
------------------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) SE Eliasson's November 27 briefing emphasized that the 
October 27 discussions in Sirte, Libya, were the beginning of 
an ongoing peace process (reftel).  Eliasson admitted he was 
disappointed by the decision of many of the Darfur rebel 
groups not to participate in the Libya talks.  Likewise, 
Sudan's refusal to facilitate travel for 12 of the 25 civil 
society representatives had made the discussion less 
inclusive. 
 
¶3. (U) Eliasson said that the lack of preparedness and 
cohesion among the rebel groups was the primary obstacle to 
progress on the political track.  The Security Council must 
allow a "reasonable amount of time" for the rebel movements 
to prepare for another round of talks.  Eliasson said he was 
returning to the region in the first week of December for 
talks with regional governments and rebel representatives for 
discussions on the way forward. 
 
---------------------- 
Guehenno Rebukes GOS, 
Warns of UNAMID Weakness 
------------------------ 
 
¶4. (U) Following SE Eliasson's briefing, DPKO U/SYG Guehenno 
rebuked of the GOS for obstructing UNAMID deployment. 
Guehenno outlined the full range of Sudanese obstructions: 
refusal to agree on force composition, failure to facilitate 
land and water rights, delays in issuing visas to UN 
personnel, seizure of shipments of UN equipment, and hindered 
clearances for UN aircraft. 
 
¶5. (U) Guehenno added that the GOS is now objecting to the 
UNAMID draft status of forces of agreement (SOFA) and pushing 
to negotiate "unacceptable changes" to the draft text.  The 
GOS is insisting that the SOFA include provisions that give 
the Sudanese the right to suspend UNAMID communications and 
disallow any UNAMID movement on "national security" grounds. 
Guehenno made clear that UN DPKO had no intention to accept 
these changes and viewed this as another Sudanese attempt to 
delay deployment or weaken UNAMID. 
 
¶6. (U) Guehenno warned that if the international community 
could not find the remaining helicopters and transport assets 
by the December 31 Transfer of Authority (TOA) then DPKO 
would have to bring the issue back to the Council for 
consideration of other modalities, such as increasing the 
force size, expanding the number of infantry units, or 
limiting the area of operations.  Guehenno said any of these 
options would delay UNAMID deployment and risked another 
"Haskanita type of event." 
 
----------------------- 
Sudanese PermRep Blames 
UN, TCCs, and Rebels 
----------------------- 
 
 
USUN NEW Y 00001086  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶7. (U) Sudanese PermRep Abdul Mahmood Muhamad responded with 
criticism of the UN, TCCs and the Darfur rebel groups. 
Muhamad accused DPKO of attempting to pin the UN's failure to 
deploy an effective peacekeeping force on the GOS.  A more 
effective venue for resolving the remaining concerns about 
the UN-AU TCC list would be the Tripartite Mechanism, rather 
than a public forum such as the Security Council.  Likewise, 
the Sudanese were "disappointed" that the international 
community had not pledged the right military assets.  In 
regard to the peace process, Muhamad commented that only the 
GOS had fully committed to the peace process and the 
cessation of hostilities.  For that reason, the Security 
Council should move quickly on sanctioning the rebel groups 
that remain "intent on preventing peace." 
 
----------------------- 
Council Discussion 
Follows Darfur Divisions 
----------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) In subsequent Security Council debate, AMB Khalilzad 
stated the U.S. position that progress on the political, 
security and humanitarian tracks required sustained 
commitment and action by the GOS, TCCs, rebels, the UN, and 
AU (reftel).  Sudan's continued refusal to finalize the UN-AU 
TCC list is unacceptable and without basis, since the 
proposed force is overwhelmingly African.  AMB Khalilzad 
added that cohesive rebel engagement in the peace process is 
an essential condition for the peace process to move forward. 
 The Security Council should not shy from being tough with 
groups that stay outside of the political dialogue. France, 
UK, Belgium, Italy and Slovakia concurred that the GOS must 
stop delaying UNAMID deployment. 
 
¶9. (U) China and Qatar echoed the Sudanese position that the 
remaining deployment issues were primarily technical and 
could be resolved through the Tripartite Commission.  Chinese 
PermRep Wang said that the Council should consider 
sanctioning any rebel groups that obstruct the peace process. 
 Qatari PermRep al-Nassir delivered a more strident message, 
arguing that the Security Council must should follow up on 
the threat to rebel rejectionist groups implied by the 
October 24 Presidential Statement, which stated the Council's 
willingness to take action against groups that disrupt the 
peace process. 
 
Khalilzad