VZCZCXRO5473
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDU RUEHFL RUEHKUK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHMR RUEHPA
RUEHRN RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHTRO
DE RUCNDT #0048/01 0172156
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 172156Z JAN 08 ZFF4
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3566
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHDS/AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA PRIORITY 1563
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0933
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM PRIORITY 1032
RUEHOT/AMEMBASSY OTTAWA PRIORITY 0984
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE PRIORITY 8977
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC//J5/UNMA// PRIORITY

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