VZCZCXRO8822
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHKH #0347 0721305
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 131305Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3243
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA

UNCLAS KHARTOUM 000347 
 
DEPT FOR AF A A/S CARTER, AF/SPG, AF/C 
NSC FOR MGAVIN AND CHUDSON 
ADDIS ABABA 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 DEPLOYMENT UPDATE, MARCH 12, 2009 
 
REF: A) KHARTOUM 310 
B) KHARTOUM 227 
C) KHARTOUM 191 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Construction is slated to begin shortly on the 
facilities necessary for the May arrival of the Ethiopian attack 
helicopters, but the GOS has yet to convey its approval of their 
arrival to UNAMID.  Nepalese authorities have scheduled an official 
UNAMID pre-deployment visit in May, pushing the arrival of these 
specialized units back to August or September.  UNAMID has welcomed 
no new arrivals in the past week, but various companies are smoothly 
transferring to their assigned locations in Sector South. UNAMID has 
taken some steps to provide protection to food warehouses and to 
ensure water distribution to IDPs near El Fasher. End summary. 
 
¶2. (SBU) According to Colonel Noddy Stafford, UNAMID chief of J5 
plans, this week Ethiopian and Chinese engineers will be in Nyala to 
"walk the ground" in preparation for the commencement of 
construction of base facilities for the Ethiopian helicopter 
battalion.  UNMIS has arranged for 90 UNMIS Chinese engineers to 
travel directly from Wau to Nyala to initiate construction plans 
including the helicopter hard landing area, the extension of the 
access road, weapons storage, a covered servicing area, pilots' 
accommodation, and various avionics shops.  The engineers will 
succeed in constructing the facilities rather quickly, according to 
Stafford, but the final sticking point - whether the Sudanese will 
actually permit the helicopters to go to Darfur - has not been 
resolved yet. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Nepalese specialized units slated to arrive in Darfur will 
host an official pre-deployment visit (PDV) in May for senior UNAMID 
officials to inspect contingent-owned equipment before it is shipped 
to Darfur.  Once the PDV is concluded, UNHQ will receive the formal 
load lists of Nepalese cargo, and the cargo will then be sent to 
Darfur.  Scheduled for arrival 120 days after the May PDV, the 
Nepalese contingent's equipment will be due in August or September 
of this year.  Stafford was unaware that the Nepalese had requested 
US airlift assistance, and assumed that the  would use a contractor 
to bring the equipment in by road from Port Sudan to El Fasher, as 
other contingents had done. (Note: Darfur's nominal rainy season 
will most likely not interfere with the arrival of the equipment by 
land, as the land route from El Obeid to El Fasher is rarely 
inaccessible during August and September. End note.) 
 
¶4. (SBU) Progress in peacekeeping deployment continues apace, with 
no recent arrivals of peacekeepers occurring over the last week. 
All but one peacekeeping battalion is currently at full strength, 
with the South African contingent still awaiting additional 
engineering work to be completed at their camp in northeastern North 
Darfur.  UNAMID has successfully transferred a Nigerian company from 
El Geneina to Sector South, and a Senegalese company has since 
replaced the Nigerians.  With the 183 peacekeepers from the first 
Egyptian battalion having arrived directly via Egyptian C-130s from 
Egypt to El Fasher on March 2, UNAMID will soon welcome an advance 
party of the second Egyptian battalion to Sector South, constructing 
its own camp from scratch in Eid Al Fursan.  The most pressing 
deployment issue at this time is the stymied arrival of the second 
Ethiopian battalion, heading to Geraida in Sector South.  Ethiopian 
peacekeepers are currently frustrated by their inability to get 
equipment from Addis Ababa to Darfur, and have proposed a 
170-vehicle overland convoy to travel 3000 kilometers from Addis to 
South Darfur. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Following the GOS decision to expel 13 Western NGOs engaged 
in humanitarian delivery in Darfur, UNAMID has taken tentative steps 
to prepare for the humanitarian fallout that lays ahead.  UNAMID is 
currently safeguarding warehouses in Kass and Gereida to prevent 
looting by any group, and has begun outreach to local IDP 
populations in North Darfur from UNAMID HQ in EL Fasher.  Having 
just organized a recent, high-level visit to Zam Zam IDP camp, 
Stafford remarked, "You don't have to do much for the IDPs to 
instill confidence in UNAMID," adding that UNAMID is currently 
delivering water there. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment: UNAMID deployment is proceeding slowly but 
steadily.  However, t following the ICC indictment of President 
Bashir there is no expectation that officers from France, Britain 
and the U.S. will ever be allowed to join the mission.  It is highly 
likely that, following the expulsion of the 13 INGOs, UN agencies as 
well as UNAMID will begin to play a more high-profile role in 
providing some critical services to IDP camps. No one expects, 
though, that either UNAMID or UN agencies have the resources to fill 
the enormous assistance gaps already being felt in Darfur due to 
these ill-considered expulsions. FENRNANDEZ