VZCZCXRO2578
OO RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV RUEHTRO
DE RUEHLO #0773 0861850
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271850Z MAR 09
FM AMEMBASSY LONDON
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1869
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1415

UNCLAS LONDON 000773 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR IO/PSC, AF/SPG 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPKO UNSC MASS SU UK
SUBJECT: SUDAN/UNMIS: UK THINKS MANDATE FUNDAMENTALLY 
SOUND, BUT WANTS RE-NEWED FOCUS ON BORDER, ELECTIONS, DDR 
AND JIU 
 
¶1. (SBU) The mandate for the United Nations Mission in Sudan 
(UNMIS) is "fundamentally sound," but should be revised to 
focus on the border/disputed areas, elections, DDR, and the 
Joint Integrated Units (JIUs), Foreign Office Peacekeeping 
Officer Chris Hunter told poloff March 27.  Given the current 
UNSC atmospherics on Darfur, the UK does not think it would 
be helpful to seek sweeping changes in the mandate. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Hunter provided the following specific UK remarks on 
the mandate: 
 
- UNMIS should consider its organizational structure and 
deployment of resources in light of the changed environment 
and at this critical junction in the implementation of the 
Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).  The recent force 
capability review is welcome and the UNSC should call on 
UNMIS to continue to review force deployment and to implement 
its recommendations.  The UK considers this issue 
particularly important given the risk that localized fighting 
has the potential to escalate and cause serious damage to the 
CPA process. 
 
- The JIUs remain a priority, both for the benefits they 
offer where they work and for the risks to the CPA where they 
do not work.  The UK would like to see the JIU language in 
the mandate remain, with modification to encourage UNMIS to 
take more of a lead in reforming and developing JIUs.  The UK 
wants to see a support cell set up or at least a plan for how 
to support the JIUs soon after the mandate renewal. 
Benchmarks may be helpful. 
 
- DDR has moved on since the strategic plan was mobilized, 
but remains critical to the success of the CPA.  The UK would 
like to see the mandate renewal welcome the beginning of the 
DDR pilot program and encourage on-going support to the DDR 
process, particularly to assist in verifying destruction and 
monitoring the process of reintegration.  DDR would be well 
served by a new set of benchmarks beyond those suggested by 
the April SRSG report. 
 
- The elections language in the current mandate is largely 
acceptable, but it should underscored that UNMIS could play a 
useful role in providing and supporting security in the run 
up to and during the elections. 
 
- The referendum should be mentioned in the mandate, as 
getting things in order well in advance will be helpful down 
the line. 
 
- Language on the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) is not a 
priority for UNMIS in the UK's view.  The UK does not support 
asking UNMIS to undertake operations against the LRA, but 
does favor increased cooperation between the UN missions. 
The UK would welcome introduction of language that calls for 
the appointment of liaison officers and calls on the UN 
missions to continue to work closely on issues regarding the 
LRA. 
 
¶3. (SBU) In an effort to make the peacekeeping operations 
more strategic and effective, the UK supports a set of 
benchmarks by which UNMIS performance can be measured and 
would help the UNSC assess progress over the coming year. 
While the benchmarks will have to be synchronized with 
strategies for each line of operation - particularly on DDR, 
elections, and the JIUs - they would be a useful measurement 
tool.  The UK is pulling together some suggestions which 
could either form part of the mandate renewal or as the basis 
for a call for the SYG to develop benchmarks over the coming 
year. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Hunter provided some suggested language for changes 
to the resolution text, forward to IO/PSC and AF/SPG. 
 
 
Visit London's Classified Website: 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Unit ed_Kingdom 
 
LEBARON