VZCZCXRO8996
OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHBZ RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHDU RUEHFL RUEHGI
RUEHIK RUEHJO RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHMA RUEHMR RUEHPA RUEHPOD
RUEHRN RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHTRO RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUCNDT #1086/01 3331348
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 291348Z NOV 07
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3210
INFO RUEHZO/AFRICAN UNION COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUCNFUR/DARFUR COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 USUN NEW YORK 001086
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
IO AND AF FOR FRONT OFFICE; PLEASE PASS TO SE NATSIOS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL UNSC KPAL SU MOPS
SUBJECT: UN: DARFUR POLITICAL AND SECURITY TRACKS STALLED
REF: LEVINSON-IO EMAILS 11/27/07
1. (U) SUMMARY: In back-to-back briefings to the Security
Council at a November 27 open debate, Special Envoy Jan
Eliasson and DPKO U/SYG Jean Marie Guehenno told Council
members that both the political and security tracks of the
Darfur peace process are stalled. Eliasson told the Council
he needs more time to bring about a convergence of the rebel
positions. Guehenno rebuked the Government of the Sudan's
(GOS) ongoing obstructions of UNAMID deployment and reported
that the Sudanese are now attempting to add unacceptable
provisions to the UNAMID status of forces agreement (SOFA).
Guehenno said that if the UN is unable to find troop
contributing countries (TCCs) to meet UNAMID shortfalls of
helicopters and transportation units by the transfer of
authority on December 31, the Security Council would have to
consider "sub-optimal" solutions to address the unanticipated
weakness of the peacekeeping force. Sudanese PermRep
Abdalmahmood Mohamad called on the Security Council to
sanction rebel groups and said that the remaining issues
surrounding UNAMID deployment could be resolved through the
Tripartite Commission (UN, AU and the GOS). He also
admonished Guehenno for raising deployment issues in a public
meeting. AMB Khalilzad stated that progress in resolving the
Darfur crisis required sustained commitment and action the
GOS, TCCs, rebels, the UN, and the AU. END SUMMARY.
------------------------------
SE Eliasson Asks for More Time
For Rebel Convergence
------------------------------
2. (U) SE Eliasson's November 27 briefing emphasized that the
October 27 discussions in Sirte, Libya, were the beginning of
an ongoing peace process (reftel). Eliasson admitted he was
disappointed by the decision of many of the Darfur rebel
groups not to participate in the Libya talks. Likewise,
Sudan's refusal to facilitate travel for 12 of the 25 civil
society representatives had made the discussion less
inclusive.
3. (U) Eliasson said that the lack of preparedness and
cohesion among the rebel groups was the primary obstacle to
progress on the political track. The Security Council must
allow a "reasonable amount of time" for the rebel movements
to prepare for another round of talks. Eliasson said he was
returning to the region in the first week of December for
talks with regional governments and rebel representatives for
discussions on the way forward.
----------------------
Guehenno Rebukes GOS,
Warns of UNAMID Weakness
------------------------
4. (U) Following SE Eliasson's briefing, DPKO U/SYG Guehenno
rebuked of the GOS for obstructing UNAMID deployment.
Guehenno outlined the full range of Sudanese obstructions:
refusal to agree on force composition, failure to facilitate
land and water rights, delays in issuing visas to UN
personnel, seizure of shipments of UN equipment, and hindered
clearances for UN aircraft.
5. (U) Guehenno added that the GOS is now objecting to the
UNAMID draft status of forces of agreement (SOFA) and pushing
to negotiate "unacceptable changes" to the draft text. The
GOS is insisting that the SOFA include provisions that give
the Sudanese the right to suspend UNAMID communications and
disallow any UNAMID movement on "national security" grounds.
Guehenno made clear that UN DPKO had no intention to accept
these changes and viewed this as another Sudanese attempt to
delay deployment or weaken UNAMID.
6. (U) Guehenno warned that if the international community
could not find the remaining helicopters and transport assets
by the December 31 Transfer of Authority (TOA) then DPKO
would have to bring the issue back to the Council for
consideration of other modalities, such as increasing the
force size, expanding the number of infantry units, or
limiting the area of operations. Guehenno said any of these
options would delay UNAMID deployment and risked another
"Haskanita type of event."
-----------------------
Sudanese PermRep Blames
UN, TCCs, and Rebels
-----------------------
USUN NEW Y 00001086 002 OF 002
7. (U) Sudanese PermRep Abdul Mahmood Muhamad responded with
criticism of the UN, TCCs and the Darfur rebel groups.
Muhamad accused DPKO of attempting to pin the UN's failure to
deploy an effective peacekeeping force on the GOS. A more
effective venue for resolving the remaining concerns about
the UN-AU TCC list would be the Tripartite Mechanism, rather
than a public forum such as the Security Council. Likewise,
the Sudanese were "disappointed" that the international
community had not pledged the right military assets. In
regard to the peace process, Muhamad commented that only the
GOS had fully committed to the peace process and the
cessation of hostilities. For that reason, the Security
Council should move quickly on sanctioning the rebel groups
that remain "intent on preventing peace."
-----------------------
Council Discussion
Follows Darfur Divisions
-----------------------
8. (U) In subsequent Security Council debate, AMB Khalilzad
stated the U.S. position that progress on the political,
security and humanitarian tracks required sustained
commitment and action by the GOS, TCCs, rebels, the UN, and
AU (reftel). Sudan's continued refusal to finalize the UN-AU
TCC list is unacceptable and without basis, since the
proposed force is overwhelmingly African. AMB Khalilzad
added that cohesive rebel engagement in the peace process is
an essential condition for the peace process to move forward.
The Security Council should not shy from being tough with
groups that stay outside of the political dialogue. France,
UK, Belgium, Italy and Slovakia concurred that the GOS must
stop delaying UNAMID deployment.
9. (U) China and Qatar echoed the Sudanese position that the
remaining deployment issues were primarily technical and
could be resolved through the Tripartite Commission. Chinese
PermRep Wang said that the Council should consider
sanctioning any rebel groups that obstruct the peace process.
Qatari PermRep al-Nassir delivered a more strident message,
arguing that the Security Council must should follow up on
the threat to rebel rejectionist groups implied by the
October 24 Presidential Statement, which stated the Council's
willingness to take action against groups that disrupt the
peace process.
Khalilzad