Senator Voinovich in Belgrade: Turn Over Mladic

UNCLAS BELGRADE 000517

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL SR XI
SUBJECT: Senator Voinovich in Belgrade: Turn Over Mladic
and Engage (but Verify) on Kosovo



1. (SBU) Summary: Senator Voinovich drew on his long
record of personal involvement with Serbia's democratic
transition in urging the Serbian government to make more
progress on cooperation with ICTY and Kosovo. In
separate meetings with PM Kostunica, FM Draskvoic, MoD
Stankovic and in a longer dinner with President Tadic,
the Senator pressed his counterparts to get Mladic to the
Hague and to focus on verification and implementation
(rather then prevarication) with regards to a Kosovo
settlement. End Summary


2. (SBU) During a one-day visit to Belgrade on March 23,
Senator George Voinovich (R-Ohio) pressed all four
Serbian leaders to do more to get Mladic to the Hague and
to give Serbia a push forward. He recounted his active
personal involvement on MFN, on debt relief, and on a
host of other key issues and noted his rising frustration
that Serbia continued to trail other countries in the
region. "Nothing would make me happier," he observed,
"then to welcome Croatia, Macedonia, and Serbia all into
NATO together as new members -- this would be a dream
come true." The Senator was critical of how the ICTY had
handled the Milosevic case by allowing it to drag on for
four years -- but argued that the Milosevic death was an
opportunity, not a hindrance, to acting now on Mladic to
free up integration into the EU and NATO and to end the
need for U.S. certification on cooperation with the ICTY.


3. (SBU) PM Kostunica said he shared the Senator's
frustration. The Mladic issue overshadowed everything
and his turnover was long overdue. He downplayed any
comparison with the Gotovina case in Croatia, noting that
there was no support for Mladic coming from his
government or from the military; the government had
enlisted all of its resources in the search. The climate
had changed in Serbia, said Kostunica, with the public in
full agreement that no one man should hold the country
hostage. Kostunica lamented the ICTY's recent decision
to allow Kosovar ICTY-indictee Haradinaj to engage in
politics and Ceku's election as the new Prime Minister,
notwithstanding an existing arrest warrant against him.
This double standard confused the Serb public, said
Kostunica, but at the end of the day Mladic's capture was
not a problem of political will but rather a technical
operational challenge.


4. (SBU) Defense Minister Stankovic noted his own
progress in eliminating the vestiges of a support network
for Mladic that had existed in the Ministry of Defense in
the past and committed to doing more. Foreign Minister
Draskovic pressed Senator Voinovich to consider easing up
on Mladic conditionality so that Serbia could enter
Partnership for Peace. It was more important then ever
to support Serbia's democrats, said Draskovic. Progress
on European integration was sorely needed for a
population that was frustrated about its future.


5. (SBU) Voinovich pressed equally hard on Kosovo,
challenging both Tadic and Kostunica to identify the
tangible benefits of keeping it as part of Serbia.
Demographics and economic realities would continue to
discourage Serbs from staying or returning to Kosovo.
Why not focus instead on ensuring a strong and objective
mechanism for verifying implementation of provisions on
decentralization, minority rights and protection of
patrimonial sites? Voinovich urged Tadic and his advisor
Leon Kojen, a member of the Serb negotiating team, to
insist on the toughest standard of verification in the
final settlement. "The Albanians have not delivered so
many times -- I certainly would not sign anything until I
saw tangible proof that they are ready to live up to
their commitments."


6. (SBU) PM Kostunica complained about the double
standard the IC was applying on Kosovo. The pressing
issue was one of human rights and religious freedom but
there was also an important political principle related
to how countries in Europe addressed problems of minority
rights. There were countless examples in Europe of
problems like Kosovo -- Catalonia, Basques, Corsica to
name a few -- but only Serbia was being pressured to
change its borders. The standard in Europe was to
address minority problems in-country. Yes, Milosevic had
blood on his hands but there were others in Europe's very
long history who also had blood on their hands. Yes,
Kosovars were forced to flee in 1999 but, unlike Serbs
who fled after the bombing, all the Albanians (and some)
returned. Why treat Serbia differently? Why abandon the
European principle? Why not seek a solution that would
reinforce multi-ethnic outcomes?


7. (SBU) Tadic also questioned the logic of creating

new microstates and undermining existing multi-ethnic
ones. As to the benefits from Kosovo, Tadic suggested it
would be more appropriate to consider what the costs for
Serbia would be if Kosovo became independent. Rising
nationalism, a government in Belgrade controlled by the
Radicals and Socialists, and further delay in Serbia's
economic transition. Kojen said concerns about
implementation were exactly why Belgrade was moving
carefully on decentralization issues, particularly in
light of the unbelievable assurances from the Kosovo side
that decentralization and minority rights could only come
after independence. Tadic observed that he would
continue to look for ways to strengthen the democratic
block, noting his recent offer to replace the Socialists
(SPS) as the out-of-coalition supporter of the current
government.


8. (SBU) Voinovich raised the pending bilateral defense
agreements, congratulating the Serbian government on its
approval (earlier in the day) of the weapons of mass
destruction (WMD) agreement. Voinovich recalled Ohio's
active cooperation with Hungary under the State
Partnership Program and expressed hope that the same
could be done with Serbia, once the Status of Forces
Agreement (SOFA) was signed.


9. (SBU) Voinovich pressed similar themes in an
interview with Radio Television Serbia, noting his active
efforts to promote Serbia's democratic transition and
expressing his hope that the Mladic issue be quickly
resolved to allow Serbia's rapid integration into Euro-
Atlantic structures.

POLT