VZCZCXRO4491
PP RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #0062 0170543
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 170543Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9713
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000062 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS, AF SE WILLIAMSON 
ADDIS ABABA FOR USAU 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: UNAMID CIVILIAN RECRUITMENT PROCEEDS SLOWLY 
 
¶1. (SBU) Deputy Director of the UNAMID Recruitment Office Haris 
Pajtic told poloff January 9 that civilian recruitment for the 5,500 
civilian UNAMID positions is underway but admitted that serious 
obstacles remain.  He said that his 12-person office expects to have 
recruited 50 percent of the positions by June 2008 and currently has 
filled 896 of its 1,147 positions, mostly with AMIS and UNMIS 
transfers.  UNAMID plans to recruit 1,500 international staff, 700 
to 1,000 United Nations Volunteers, and 3,000 national staff 
positions. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Pajtic said that UNAMID has 600 vacancies in El-Fasher that 
it has not been able to fill from transferred UNMIS or AMIS staff, 
or even through local hires. He said that a week into the 
transition, UN headquarters in New York has still not provided final 
budget and personnel authority. As a result UNAMID is unable to make 
any recruitment decisions beyond the UNMIS or AMIS staff that was 
already in place.  Once this is sorted out, he said UNAMID should be 
able to quickly recruit civilian personnel.  Unlike UNAMID's 
military operations, Pajtic pointed out that there is no requirement 
for the civilian component to maintain an African character. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Pajtic voiced familiar complaints that GoS visa issues are 
a "nightmare" and expressed concern that this will pose a serious 
obstacle to getting UN personnel into Sudan quickly.  In addition, 
Pajtic pointed out that recruiting a UN employee for a new UN 
mission takes a significant amount of time.  Once selected, given 
the need for training and processing of credentials, it could take 
several months for a new UN civilian hire to arrive in Sudan. 
However, he said this could be cut to two weeks for a transferred UN 
employee. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Pajtic noted that retention will be also be a problem, as 
the conditions at UNAMID sites in Darfur are austere.  However, he 
was optimistic that both recruits and transferred UN staff would see 
the career advantages inherent in working in Darfur. Despite this, 
Pajtic expressed concern that as of the first week in January, the 
UN has succeeded in hiring only five percent of the positions that 
had been deemed as "critical," such as technical and experienced 
senior staff. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Comment: As with most aspects of UNAMID deployment, 
recruitment can be expected to proceed slowly.  However, once the 
critical positions are filled we expect UNAMID's capacity to improve 
dramatically. 
 
FERNANDEZ