VZCZCXRO1503
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1236/01 2280902
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 150902Z AUG 08
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1621
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001236 
 
DEPT FOR AF/SPG, A/S FRAZER, SE WILLIAMSON 
NSC FOR BPITTMAN AND CHUDSON 
ADDIS ABABA ALSO FOR USAU 
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ASEC PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: UNAMID PLANS TO ELIMINATE CONTAINER BACKLOG 
 
REF: A) KHARTOUM 1223 
B) KHARTOUM 1137 
C) KHARTOUM 966 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary: UNAMID estimates that it requires significantly 
enhanced cargo-transport capacity if it is to deploy planned, 
additional military and police personnel before the end of the year. 
 UNAMID's ambitious goals, including additional cargo aircraft and 
material handling equipment, appear to be based on wishful thinking. 
 Reaching them may already be unrealistic within the time required. 
End summary. 
 
¶2.  (SBU) To meet its goal of deploying an additional 3,538 military 
and police before the end of the year, Chief of Integrated Support 
Services Ian Divers told poloff that UNAMID plans to enhance its 
container-cargo transport operations, beginning by eliminating a 
5,310 Twenty-foot container Equivalent Units (TEU) backlog.  (Note: 
There are over 3,000 actual containers as previously reported, but a 
more useful figure to show the scope of the problem is the 5,310 
"container equivalents" calculation. End note.)  The initial 
priority will be transporting 2,055 Contingent Owned Equipment (COE) 
TEUs currently at Port Sudan, El-Obeid and Nyala depots to their 
final destinations.  Of the 2,055 COE TEUs, 601 are TEU containers. 
Another 1062 TEUs represent "wheeled" goods, such as trucks, wheeled 
trailers, containers with their own wheels or large items such as 
generators.  The remaining 393 are palletized bulk-good TEUs.  The 
following chart summarizes types of COE by location. 
 
CONTINGENT-OWNED CONTAINER LOCATIONS 
------------------------------------ 
 
 
     TEU   WHEELED  BULK 
 
PORT SUDAN   180  217   158 
 
EL OBEID    421  805   234 
 
NYALA    40  01   0 
 
 
TOTAL    601  1062   393 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) Of the remaining 3,255 UN Owned Equipment (UNOE) TEUs, the 
majority are priority items for ongoing support of UNAMID.  Some of 
the cargo represents items that, while important, cannot be absorbed 
by UNAMID for lack of warehouse space.  The chart below summarizes 
types of UNOE by location. 
 
UN-OWNED CONTAINER LOCATIONS 
----------------------------- 
 
     TEU  WHEELED  BULK 
 
PORT SUDAN   1259  92   58 
 
EL OBEID    1636  189   20 
 
TOTAL    2895  281   78 
 
 
¶3. (SBU) UNAMID's current air capacity is 18 TEU flights per week or 
three TEU flights a day in a six-day workweek.  Part of UNAMID's 
plan to eliminate the COE backlog by the end of the year is to 
increase air capacity to 66 flights per week.  Given that one IL-76 
aircraft can accommodate one TEU and the L-100 can accommodate two 
TEUs, UNAMID calculates that it needs three additional IL-76s and 
one additional L-100 to provide eleven TEU flights a day for six 
days.  These aircraft need to be in use by September 30, 2008 to 
meet the end-of-year goal. 
 
¶4. (SBU) UNAMID will also use ground transport.  Currently UNAMID 
delivers a total of 23 TEUs a day using a combination of rail, air 
and road.  UNAMID plans to deliver 58 TEUs a day by enhancing their 
use of these assets.  These enhancements require significant new 
resource and acquisition initiatives in addition to the planes 
mentioned above.  These include an additional MI-26 helicopter by 
August 2008, increased use of rail transport and movement 
contractors, use of anticipated TCC military transport vehicles as 
well as UN trucks, increased use of individual small contractors to 
move 2,000 individual items in the greater Darfur region, and 
expanded use of UNMIS movement contracts to delivery goods to Nyala. 
 UNAMID plans also assume Friends of UNAMID (FOU) will provide 
unspecified airlift of priority COE including Armored Personnel 
Carriers (APC), ammunition, medical equipment and supplies, and 
 
KHARTOUM 00001236  002 OF 002 
 
 
self-sustainment stores. 
 
¶5. (SBU) According to transport contractors, sufficient Material 
Handling Equipment (MHE) is available in Sudan, given proper 
planning and funds for rentals.  In general, transport contractors, 
even those that UNAMID uses, stated that there are no MHE obstacles 
regarding loading and off-loading containers at ports, storage sites 
or at remote locations.  The Port of Sudan has sufficient modern 
equipment to off-load containers of any size and weight directly to 
trucks for transport to onward rail or air links. Rail heads such as 
Nyala have cranes suitable for offloading containers to and from 
rail or truck with sufficient personnel to efficiently move cargo to 
the onward mode of transport.  More remote locations often have MHE 
and experienced personnel for rent but require advance planning. 
Most transport companies have their own MHE and move their equipment 
along with containers.  However, despite apparently widely available 
MHE, UNAMID says that to meet its year-end objectives it will 
require additional MHE equipment such as six 15 ton telescopic 
forklifts, three K-Loaders, 12 Pallet Dollies and 12 Baggage 
Trailers of unspecified capacities. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment: We will continue to press for additional detail on 
the locations of containers and especially a prioritized list of 
what could usefully be moved immediately with outside assistance. 
This is still one more example of how major impediments to the 
accelerated deployment of UNAMID are generated, not by an 
obstructionist Khartoum regime, but by lack of capacity and planning 
by the UN. It is possible that changes in leadership in New York and 
El Fasher may make UNAMID logistics more effective in the coming 
months. Additional air cargo flights and convoys will require close 
coordination with the Sudanese authorities, especially the military 
and intelligence apparatus of the regime. End comment. 
 
FERNANDEZ