FRANCE WILL ISSUE PRESS STATEMENT REACTING TO ICTY

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 001527

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/09/2014
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KAWC SR YI FR ICTY
SUBJECT: FRANCE WILL ISSUE PRESS STATEMENT REACTING TO ICTY
INDICTMENT OF RAMUSH HARADINAJ

REF: SECSTATE 39938

Classified By: POLITICAL MINISTER-COUNSELOR JOSIAH ROSENBLATT, FOR REAS
ONS 1.4 B/D


1. (C) On March 8, POL M/C delivered reftel demarche
encouraging press statements on the ICTY indictment of Ramush
Haradinaj to Jean-Francois Terral, A/S-equivalent for Russia,
the former Soviet space, and the Balkans. Terral agreed with
the necessity of issuing a press statement, and shared a copy
of a French draft statement, an informal translation of which
is at para 2. In addition, Terral said the MFA was generally
pleased with initial reports coming from Pristina, and that
the GOF was optimistic that this crisis could be weathered.
He particularly complimented the extensive UNMIK and KFOR
preparations for this eventuality.


2. (U) Informal translation of French press statement on the
indictment of PM Ramush Haradinaj of Kosovo:

"France expects full and complete cooperation with the ICTY
from everyone, indictees and institutions. We reminded
everyone of this publicly when Mr. Ramush Haradinaj was
proposed as a potential Prime Minister of Kosovo, because
even then his possible indictment by the ICTY was discussed.

Mr. Haradinaj's decision to resign his post of Prime Minister
and surrender voluntarily upon being notified of his
indictment is therefore a gesture that we were waiting for,
and one that testifies to Mr. Hardadinaj's sense of
responsibility.

This resignation makes clear that the head of the Kosovar
government is not being indicted but rather, it is simply a
man who is being indicted for acts committed before the
taking up of his current position.

We continue to follow closely the continuing political
process in Kosovo: the implementation of "priority
standards," especially those concerning minorities, should
continue actively, in the perspective of the global review
which will take place in mid-2005 with a view to making a
decision on the opening of discussions on the future status
of Kosovo."
Leach