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