CROATIA CONDITIONALLY READY TO SUPPORT NEUM SHIP

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 001797

SIPDIS


DEPT FOR EUR/SCE-MNARDI
DOD/OSD FOR SHOEMAKER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/13/2008
TAGS: PREL MARR BH HR NATO
SUBJECT: CROATIA CONDITIONALLY READY TO SUPPORT NEUM SHIP
VISIT

REF: NARDI/MOON E-MAIL 8/8/03

Classified By: POLOFF JUSTIN FRIEDMAN FOR REASONS 1.5 B & D


1. (U) See action request for Embassy Sarajevo para 9.


2. (C) SUMMARY: We provided the MFA and MoD with a non-paper
(text para 10) outlining our request for support for the
visit of a U.S. military vessel to the BiH port of Neum. The
MFA believes legal issues will need to be worked through
before there is a formal OK, but appeared to be predisposed
to cooperate. Overall, Croatia understands the importance of
supporting the visit, and the MOD appears ready to take the
lead to make the visit a success. The Croatians will want
the GoBiH to send a Dipnote requesting cooperation to execute
the visit.


3. (C) The Embassy will need to provide the MoD with a
detailed, written request for support, as is standard for
ship visits to Croatia, according to our MoD contacts, in
order for the GoC to say we have met the requirements of
Croatian law. The GoC wants to take the lead in announcing
its support for the visit to manage any possible political
impact on the upcoming November parliamentary elections. The
MoD would also like to arrange a formal protocol meeting for
Deputy Defense Minister Zlatko Gareljic and Navy Commander
Rear Admiral Zdravko Kardum with Admiral Johnson at an
appropriate time during the Admiral,s visit to the region.
END SUMMARY.


4. (C) POLITICAL IMPORTANCE: On August 12, Poloff and Navy
Attache delivered a non-paper (para 8) to the MFA and MoD
outlining our request for support for the visit of a U.S.
military vessel in late September to the BiH port of Neum.
We met separately with MFA Acting Director of the North
America Desk Andrea Bekic and Assistant Minister of Defense
Jelena Grcic-Polic. Both interlocutors recognized the
political importance of the visit for regional cooperation.
We stressed that Croatia needed this visit to be a success
for our bilateral relationship as well, given recent
disappointments of Croatia,s position on the war in Iraq and
Article 98.


5. (C) PUBLIC RELATIONS: Grcic-Polic and Bekic cautioned that
the visit would be very politically sensitive within Croatia
given upcoming parliamentary elections (November 23rd).
Grcic-Polic noted that different timing for a visit could
ease PR concerns, but she understood our need to have this
visit now. Grcic-Polic suggested that Croatia take the lead
in announcing support well ahead of the visit as part of its
efforts to improve regional cooperation. We stated our
willingness to work with the GoC to manage any public
announcements, emphasizing our need to hold back on
announcing a specific date for force protection reasons.


6. (C) LEGAL CONCERNS: MFA,s Bekic cautioned that this was a
new situation for Croatia and that we would need to work
within Croatian law. She was particularly concerned about
the precedent our visit would set for other foreign military
vessels making passage through Croatian territorial waters to
reach the Bosnian port. Navy Attache stressed our position
that the U.S. was not obligated under the Law of the Sea to
provide advance notice of our vessel,s passage, but given
that we would need to procure considerable Croatian
logistical support and yet to be fully defined security
support, we wanted to work together to ensure that Croatian
legal concerns are not an impediment to a good visit.


7. (C) Assistant Minister of Defense Grcic-Polic echoed
Bekic,s concerns, but offered work-arounds. She said that a
Dipnote from the GoBiH requesting security and logistic
assistance would be helpful to cast the visit in terms of
regional cooperation. She said she would also want the
standard fax or an informal note from the Embassy detailing
our requests for assistance; such a document could be
"craftily" considered as meeting Croatian legal requirements.
She said the MoD was willing and prepared to support the
visit and wanted to work out the details well in advance.
Once we outlined our requests, she would stand up an
interagency task force (Ministry of Defense, Ministy of the
Interior - Police and Ministry of Transportation) to address
our support needs.


8. (C) INVITATION FOR ADMIRAL JOHNSON: Grcic-Polic said that


Deputy Defense Minister Zlatko Gareljic would be in charge of
Croatia,s support effort since Minister Antunovic would be
in China at the end of September. She asked for a formal
meeting for the Deputy Minister and the Chief of the Navy,
Rear Admiral Zdravko Kardum, with Admiral Johnson at an
appropriate time during the ship visit. Navy Attache
suggested that the proposed meeting in Split at the end of
the visit might best serve protocol needs, depending on the
Admiral's scheduled arrival and departure.


9. (C) COMMENT and ACTION REQUEST: Grcic-Polic has offered us
a good work-around on legal issues for the visit. We
understand that the GoBiH was making formal contact with the
GoC simultaneous with our calls on the Croats. Post suggests
that Embassy Sarajevo check with the GoBiH to determine
whether the kind of note Grcic-Polic suggested is possible.
We will continue our work with the MoD and MFA to provide the
Croatians our detailed support needs.


10. (C) BEGIN NON-PAPER TEXT:

The BiH State Presidency has invited the United States Navy
to conduct the first-ever friendly ship visit to Neum,
Bosnia-Herzegovina. This visit is projected to occur in late
Sep 2003.

In the spirit of regional cooperation, the United States
Government seeks the assistance to of the Government of
Croatia in provision of security and logistic support
critical for the success of this historic visit.

The United States Navy seeks the assistance of the Croatian
Ministry of Defense and Ministry of the Interior to provide
force protection at sea and on the landward approaches to
Neum. If provided, the United States Navy can abide by agreed
upon force protection measures for its ships while sailing in
Croatian waters. Standard compensation can be provided to the
Ministry of the Interior for services rendered. The
Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina and United States Navy
will be responsible for force protection once the ship enters
BiH waters.

The United States Navy plans to engage Croatian-based
husbanding agents to provide logistic support for the ship.
We intend to use Croatian personnel (pilots, agents, etc.)
and maritime resources (tugs, lighters, barges, etc.) drawn
from Ploce, Croatia to support this visit due to the lack of
adequate maritime infrastructure at Neum.

We anticipate the need to utilize Croatian airports (Split
and/or Dubrovnik) and roadways to facilitate the movement of
personnel (including VIPs) and supplies to and from Neum, in
the case of a medical evacuation, and to conduct tours to
Croatia. These movements will require your cooperation in
expediting border crossings.

The current Croatian Maritime Code is silent on the
possibility of freedom of transit by international traffic to
Neum. Based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and
customary international law, diplomatic notification is not
required to conduct right of innocent passage within a
states, territorial seas nor within base lines defining
internal waters which deny access to other states,
territorial seas, as contained in the current Maritime Code.
In making these request we do not prejudice our rights under
international law, but hope that our Governments can work
together to make this historic visit a success for regional
cooperation.

END NON-PAPER TEXT.
FRANK


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