Cablegate: Unamid: Personnel Will Be Key to Success
VZCZCXRO0364
PP RUEHGI RUEHMA RUEHROV
DE RUEHKH #1742/01 3111331
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 071331Z NOV 07
FM AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9109
INFO RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE
RHMFISS/CJTF HOA
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KHARTOUM 001742
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
DEPT FOR AF/SPG, S/CRS
DEPT PLS PASS USAID FOR AFR/SUDAN
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KPKO SOCI AU UNSC SU
SUBJECT: UNAMID: PERSONNEL WILL BE KEY TO SUCCESS
1. (SBU) SUMMARY: In a November 5 meeting with FieldOff, a senior
United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS) officer corroborated
assessments from other UNAMID officers (septel) that the main
shortcoming threatening deployment of the UN-African Union Mission
in Darfur (UNAMID) is not the Sudanese Government but a dearth of
qualified and experienced human resources needed immediately to lay
the infrastructure groundwork for implementation of UN Security
Council Resolution 1769 (2007). The UN Officer hopes that the
impending arrival of a Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO)
team will lend the necessary impetus to jump-start this process.
The UN Officer, like many in the El Fasher international
communities, was guarded in his assessment of Government of Sudan
(GOS) cooperation with UNAMID deployment. END SUMMARY.
PERSONNEL GAP NEGATES DEPLOYMENT RATE ADVANTAGE
--------------------------------------------- --
2. (SBU) UNMIS Senior Officer opened his November 5 meeting with
FieldOff by hailing the comparative advantages Darfur enjoys over
South Sudan in facilitating deployment of a peacekeeping force. The
UN Officer considered that the availability of accommodations and of
skilled labor and manufacturing could give UNAMID deployment an edge
over UNMIS deployment in the South (where deployment of the bulk of
the approximately 10,000 peacekeepers took over 15 months).
3. (SBU) However, the UN Officer warned that deployment timelines
would mean nothing if personnel being sent to the field remain in
short and unqualified supply. On the military side, the UN Officer
worried that incoming troops were neither properly trained nor
equipped. He was similarly concerned that actual Formed Police Unit
(FPU) contributions fell short of projected levels (UNSCR 1769
envisaged 19 FPUs); he said in best-case scenario, the first two
FPUs (from Bangladesh and Nepal) would arrive in Darfur by
mid-November and would be operational in Nyala by mid-December. The
UN Officer noted that despite the readiness of the Bangladeshi FPU
to deploy early, UNMIS had recommended delaying deployment until
both FPUs could be sent to South Darfur simultaneously, given the
recent internal violence at Kalma IDP camp. He expected that the
Chinese engineering unit of the Heavy Support Package would be in
place this month.
4. (SBU) On the civilian side, the UN Officer noted that UNMIS
itself is not fully staffed (the last Secretary-General's report on
UNMIS, S/2007/624, put UNMIS force strength at 97 percent - 9,402 of
9,706 deployed), which presents problems for UNAMID, as UNMIS is
supporting the fledging operation from its own resources. The UN
Officer hoped to move an initial wave of 100 staff into the
newly-inaugurated UNAMID El Fasher headquarters, a move contingent
upon arrival of necessary communications and information technology
equipment. He saw as a positive sign the presence of UNAMID the
Joint Special Representative, Force Commander and their respective
Deputies in Sudan, but remarked that selection of a Police
Commissioner and his two Deputies was still pending. Other than
appointments of Director of Administration, Assistant-SYG for
Mission Support, and Heads of Offices of Civil Affairs and Safety
and Security, he said the remainder of Heads of Section had yet to
be selected. The sooner they could be recruited and deployed, he
explained, the faster they could in turn start recruiting their own
staff, many of whom were expected to come from a restless yet
potentially unqualified AMIS civilian pool.
DPKO VISIT SEEN AS SHOT IN ARM FOR RECRUITMENT
--------------------------------------------- -
5. (SBU) The UN Officer explained that there was a "Tiger Team"
comprised of staff from UN New York Headquarters currently in
Khartoum to work on UNAMID recruitment, but he expressed frustration
that this team was trying to do its work in the capital rather than
on the ground, where his staff could better advise the hiring
process. He was hopeful that the impending arrival during the week
of November 12 of a DPKO team headed by A/SYG Mulet would provide
the necessary impetus to expediting the recruitment process, as well
as address operational issues, including procurement of an
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