Amb. Wisner Outbriefs Contact Group Members in

UNCLAS BELGRADE 000651

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PREL SR
SUBJECT: Amb. Wisner Outbriefs Contact Group Members in
Belgrade



1. (SBU) Summary: Ambassador Frank Wisner briefed Contact
Group representatives in Belgrade April 18 on his recent
meetings with the Kosovo negotiating teams and their
leadership. He offered a positive assessment of the new
leadership in Pristina, noting that Prime Minister Ceku and
President Sejdiu were engaging more with the public and
preparing Kosovars for the outcome of the talks. Summing up
his meetings with Belgrade officials, Wisner said he came
away with a better understanding of Belgrade's vision, and
that he delivered strong messages to Prime Minister
Kostunica, President Tadic, and the negotiating team to
participate constructively in the decentralization talks.
End Summary.


2. (SBU) Ambassador Wisner spoke briefly on his visit to
Pristina, remarking that the new leadership appears to be
preparing its citizens for the ultimate outcome of the
Kosovo talks, through speeches and appearances around
Kosovo. Wisner said he believes that Pristina is seriously
focused on the issues of property, returns, and redrawing
municipality borders as it approaches the next talks in
Vienna scheduled for May 4.


3. (SBU) Meetings with Belgrade officials provided a better
understanding of their approach to the Kosovo
decentralization talks, Ambassador Wisner said. He made a
distinction in his meetings with Kostunica, Tadic, and the
negotiating team, between a permanent functional carve-out
by Belgrade of Serb municipalities that would tie them to
Belgrade's apron strings in perpetuity, or a set of measures
to protect the rights of Kosovo Serbs, but preserving Kosovo
as a wholly functioning entity. After much discussion, the
Belgrade negotiating team reluctantly sought to assure him
that Serbia has no intention to insist on a permanent role
for Belgrade in the internal affairs of Kosovo Serbs, but
rather, that Belgrade's objective is to secure rights and
protections for Kosovo Serbs. Wisner had told the Prime
Minister, President and the negotiating team that Belgrade's
discouragement of Kosovo Serb participation in Kosovo
institutions and the CCK directive to withhold salaries for
Serbs in Kosovo gave the clear impression that Belgrade was
trying to control the Kosovo Serbs.


4. (SBU) Ambassador Wisner told the Contact Group that Prime
Minister Kostunica continues to oppose the international
community's presumed outcome of the Kosovo talks. He also
noted that Kostunica sees differences within the Contact
Group despite repeated messages that the group stands united
in its guiding principles and in its support for UN Special
Envoy Ahtisaari's direction in the negotiations.


5. (SBU) Based upon his meetings in Kosovo and Belgrade,
Ambassador Wisner said he would recommend that Ahtisaari's
expert team visit the region to lay the groundwork for the
next round of negotiations in Vienna.


6. (U) Ambassador Wisner's office has cleared this message.
Post clears this message in its entirety for release to
Special Envoy Ahtisaari.

POLT