VZCZCXRO3677
PP RUEHBZ RUEHDU RUEHGI RUEHJO RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHRN RUEHTRO
DE RUCNDT #0013/01 0092022
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 092022Z JAN 09
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 5622
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 000013 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM MARR KPKO UNSC SO
SUBJECT: UN PREVIEWS PLANNED SUPPORT TO AMISOM 
 
 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. In two meetings on January 6, UN Under 
Secretary-General Malcorra and Department of Field Support 
(DFS) staff briefed USUN on the status of UN planning to 
implement the Secretary-General's proposed measures to 
strengthen the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). 
DFS is coordinating very urgent Secretariat action on this 
effort in the expectation that the Security Council is about 
to issue an authorizing resolution.  Malcorra and staff 
explained that a technical assessment mission will arrive in 
the region on January 12 and that a comprehensive budget will 
be prepared within days of its January 26 return.  DFS's 
preliminary estimate is that costs -- assuming a force of 
8,000 troops -- will approach $600 million over 12 months for 
logistics, expendables, and construction with an additional 
$300 million needed from donors over that period for troop 
salaries and the training of Somali security personnel. 
Assuming both that the Security Council adopts the necessary 
resolution and that the Secretariat develops a budget when 
the TAM returns, the Secretariat will present a proposed 
budget to the relevant General Assembly committees as quickly 
as possible.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On January 6 DFS officer Max Kerley (UK) briefed 
USUN political and management reform officers on the state of 
the Secretariat's Department of Field Support (DFS) planning 
to implement the logistical support to AMISOM proposed by SYG 
Ban in his letters to the Council of December 19 and December 
¶31.  Kerley said DFS has adopted two "principles" in its 
approach to Somalia planning in the absence of a formal 
peacekeeping mandate: maintain only a minimal UN footprint on 
the ground and, accordingly, provide as much of the agreed 
support to AMISOM as possible via contractors. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Kerley said that the Secretariat is sending a 
technical assessment mission (TAM) to Nairobi and Addis Ababa 
from January 12-26 (to include a possible visit to Mogadishu 
depending on security conditions) in order to finalize 
logistical planning to implement the SYG's proposal.  He said 
the Secretariat is well aware that the P3 are discussing a 
text based on the SYG's recommendations and is acting now in 
order to be ready if such a resolution is approved. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Kerley said that a comprehensive budget could be put 
together within several days of the TAM's January 26 return 
from the region.  He provided a "back of the cigarette pack" 
estimate that UN support to AMISOM for 12 months would cost 
$500 million exclusive of the proposed transfer of assets 
from the former UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE). 
He said UN-provided support measures would include rations, 
fuel, potable water, medical facilities, camp construction 
and operation, electric power, limited airfield services, and 
voice and data communication. 
 
¶5. (SBU) In a follow-on session, Under Secretary-General for 
DFS Susanna Malcorra commented on internal UN political 
considerations in undertaking planning for UN support to 
AMISOM and on the way forward.  Repeatedly saying that DFS is 
"pushing the envelope" and "entering uncharted waters," 
Malcorra said DFS is committed to supporting AMISOM.  She 
made clear she is guided in this regard by the indication in 
the SYG's December 31 letter to the Security Council 
(S/2008/846) that "I am pleased to inform you that the 
Secretariat has already initiated action to secure the 
provision of logistics support for AMISOM." 
 
¶6. (SBU) Malcorra's vision of UN support to AMISOM, once 
authorized by Security Council resolution, presumes an 8,000 
troop AMISOM force and has DFS initially entering into a sole 
source contract with a current contractor and later 
concluding at least three contracts with different 
contractors for provision of rations, logistics (fuel, water, 
etc.), and facilities.  She estimated total support cost at 
$600 million for 12 months exclusive of a $300 million donor 
trust fund dedicated to troop salaries, the training of 
Somali security personnel, and other essential expenses not 
normally assumed by a UNPKO.   (NOTE. Malcorra provided USUN 
with a written preliminary cost breakdown and this has been 
forwarded to IO. END NOTE.)  She said the Secretariat would 
prepare a more comprehensive budget very quickly after the 
return of the TAM and that, assuming the Security Council 
adopts a mandate authorizing resolution, the budget would 
enter the ACABQ and Fifth Committee process of the General 
Assembly in March. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Malcorra noted that the initial contract would 
likely be sole-source rather than resulting from a tender 
process and mentioned Dyncorp, the largest contractor already 
on the ground, as the most likely initial contractor.  She 
acknowledged that the UNAMID sole-sourcing exercise had 
proven problematic but insisted that DFS had learned from 
that experience and would obviate problems by significantly 
 
USUN NEW Y 00000013  002 OF 002 
 
 
limiting the initial contract in time and clearly delineating 
a transition to follow-on arrangements with multiple 
contractors.  She said that a solicitation of expressions of 
interest had already been issued for the follow-on contracts. 
 
 
¶8. (SBU) Malcorra insisted that UN support to AMISOM would be 
subject to all the accounting and other controls normally 
imposed on peacekeeping operations.  She sees the UN 
overseeing provision of support elements from a rear base in 
Addis Ababa, Nairobi, or Mombasa with UN presence in 
Mogadishu as required. 
 
¶9. (SBU) COMMENT.  This AMISOM support effort brings not just 
DFS but us all into uncharted waters.  The current draft of 
the Somalia Security Council resolution envisions 
incorporation of AMISOM forces into a UNPKO possibly as soon 
as June 1.  Even with adjustment of Malcorra's 12-month cost 
estimates to fit that timeframe, this effort will incur 
significant expense of which Department may wish to apprise 
Washington agencies and Congress. 
 
Khalilzad