KOSOVO: DAS DICARLO AND EU COLLEAGUES REASSURE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 PRISTINA 001063 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR DRL, INL, AND EUR/SCE, NSC FOR BRAUN, USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/12/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL KCRM UNMIK YI SUBJECT: KOSOVO: DAS DICARLO AND EU COLLEAGUES REASSURE KOSOVO ALBANIANS ON STATUS PROCESS; TELL KOSOVO SERBS AHTISAARI,S PROPOSAL WILL ALSO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT THEIR CONCERNS Classified By: COM TINA KAIDANOW FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: DAS Rosemary DiCarlo and her European colleagues reassured Kosovo Albanians on status process timing and told Kosovo Serbs that Ahtisaari,s proposal will take into account their concerns. In private meetings with President Sejdiu, Prime Minister Ceku, Kosovo Assembly president Berisha and in a joint meeting with the Kosovo Negotiating Team on December 4, DAS DiCarlo reassured the Kosovo Albanians that the status process is on track despite the "unwelcome necessity8 of a delay by Special Envoy for Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari in presenting his proposal. DiCarlo said that Ahtisaari intends to present his proposal without delay after the January 21 elections in Serbia; in the meanwhile, Kosovo could move the process forward by preventing violence, implementing the Standards for Kosovo, and embracing the Ahtisaari proposal in full when it is presented to them. SRSG Joachim Ruecker advised DiCarlo and the EU representatives to move the Ahtisaari proposal to the UN Security Council as soon as possible in order to demonstrate to an increasingly frustrated Kosovo public there was progress on the status issue. During meetings in Pristina on December 4 and in Novo Brdo municipality on December 5, DiCarlo and her European colleagues told Kosovo Serb leaders worried about freedom of movement and security that the Ahtisaari package will take their concerns into account and that decentralization provisions will afford them substantial authorities. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (C) DAS Rosemary DiCarlo, EU/Solana representative Stefan Lehne, Director for the Unit for the Western Balkans at the Finnish MFA Juha Ottman, Director for Western Balkans at the German MFA Dr. Emily Haber and Co-advisor at the Directorate for Enlargement and European Commission liaison to UNOSEK Leopold Maurer met in Pristina with President Sejdiu, Prime Minister Ceku, Kosovo Assembly president Berisha, and had joint meetings with the Kosovo Negotiating Team, Kosovo Serb political leaders and leading members of the Kosovo Assembly on December 4. The group met with southern Serb political leaders in Novo Brdo municipality on December 5. ¶3. (C) DiCarlo and the others reassured the Kosovo Albanians that the status process is on track despite the &unwelcome necessity8 of a delay by Special Envoy for Kosovo Martti Ahtisaari in presenting his proposal. DiCarlo said that Ahtisaari will present his proposal without delay after the January 21 elections in Serbia and that in the meantime, the Kosovo government and its political leaders should prevent violence, and continue implementing the Standards for Kosovo, including the Contact Group,s 13 priorities for Standards implementation. DiCarlo stressed that Kosovo's political leadership, as well as the Kosovo people, must fully embrace the Ahtisaari proposal once it is presented in order to generate international support. Dr. Haber, representing the incoming German EU Presidency, told the Kosovo Albanians that Germany will be responsible for creating consensus in early 2007 among the 27 members of the European Union, and any criticism or questioning by the Kosovars of the proposal will make achieving consensus more difficult, as well as play into Belgrade's attempts to delay a decision on status. She stressed on behalf of the German presidency the need to implement the remaining standard priorities and for the political leadership to tell the public that any violence will delay Kosovo's aspirations and have a negative impact on its image. Kosovars want clear proposal that guarantees Kosovo's territorial integrity ¶4. (C) President Fatmir Sejdiu expressed his concern for the delay by Special Envoy for Kosovo (UNOSEK) Martti Ahtisaari in delivering his report, most notably because he felt the decision showed the continued ability of internal Serbian politics to interfere with the final status calendar. Sejdiu asked for assurances that Ahtisaari will put his proposal PRISTINA 00001063 002 OF 004 forward without delay and that the proposal be concrete and precise. Kosovo Assembly president Kole Berisha told the delegation he understood the need for this initial delay, but warned that any further delay could lead to a loss of faith by the Kosovo people in the PISG and the work of the Negotiating Team. (NOTE: Berisha has already had to beat down at least one request in the Kosovo Assembly to discuss the delay. END NOTE). Sejdiu asked that the international community work with Kosovo's Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) to transfer UNMIK's remaining competencies and that the future "light" international presence post-UNMIK be able to guarantee Kosovo's functional and territorial integrity, particularly in majority-Serb northern municipalities. During the larger meeting with the entire Kosovo Negotiating Team, Sejdiu expanded this to include assistance from the future international presence to establish Kosovo government institutions in the north. Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) head Hashim Thaci echoed these sentiments, saying that a "change in realities in the north" is needed. ¶5. (C) At lunch at KFOR's main Film City headquarters, COMKFOR General LTG Roland Kather assured the U.S.-EU group that KFOR was prepared to prevent violence in the north and that he had enough troops stationed there. He noted that KFOR is looking for a country contingent to reside permanently at Camp Nothing Hill in the northern municipality of Leposavic which could be augmented with task force rotations. He added that KFOR has been trying to convince Greece to send its troops there permanently, but have not received a response. Kather also told the visiting US/EU delegation that delays in the final status decision will only make things more difficult on the ground. Kosovars ready to work on new constitution, election law and symbols ¶6. (C) Lehne told the Negotiating Team that UNOSEK's current plan is for a constitution to be finalized three to four months after a decision by the UNSC on status. President Sejdiu agreed with EU representative Lehne that it is important to begin preparations for drafting a new constitution, including working with the International Civilian Office to make sure it corresponds to provisions in Ahtisaari's final status proposal. (NOTE: Negotiating Team Coordinator Blerim Shala told participants at the December 7 meeting of the Strategic Group on Transition that the Negotiating Team will approve its six members to the informal working group on the constitution the week of December 11. END NOTE). Thaci assured the delegation that the PDK will be part of the transition, including working on the new constitution (with the help of international experts),a new election law and new national symbols. Lehne responded that it is important that any new symbols for Kosovo be as inclusive as possible, and not represent one particular political party or group. Ceku upbeat on implementation on priority Standards ¶7. (SBU) Prime Minister Agim Ceku gave the group an upbeat assessment of where the PISG is on the remaining five of the Contact Group's priorities for Standards implementation. Ceku's advisor Avni Arifi said that most of the delays in completing the reconstruction at Svinjare (a village in south Mitrovica where Serb homes were destroyed in 2004) are due to additional improvements over and above what had existed there before the March 2004 violence and that he expected the work to be finished before the end of December. Arifi noted that the PISG had expanded the rental scheme to include all 5,294 properties currently administered by the Kosovo Property Agency, that 450 property right holders had consented to have their property included in the scheme, but only 40 occupants had paid rent (totaling about 13,000 euros) so far. Arifi noted that of the 2,804 property claims pending implementation in June 2006, only 879 remain to be PRISTINA 00001063 003 OF 004 implemented. He said that Minister of Justice Jonuz Salihaj had openly encouraged people with information to come forward and cooperate with authorities investigating and prosecuting cases arising from the March 2004 violence and added that since June 2006 the government has always made such a request in cases of suspected inter-ethnic violence. Arifi also said that all but six of the 17 police substations requested by UNMIK in September 2006 are fully operational. He added that residents in two of the targeted Serb communities have refused the government's offer of a police substation. UNMIK advises moving UNOSEK proposal to the UNSC quickly ¶8. (C) SRSG Joachim Ruecker told the group there need to be "signposts" over the next several months to show an increasingly frustrated Kosovo public that the status process is moving forward. He advised moving the Ahtisaari proposal to the UN Security Council as soon as possible after the January 21 Serbian elections and that engagement in the UNSC by March 2007 is important. He reasserted UNMIK's view that a 120 day transition period is needed between the date of any UNSC decision on status and its implementation on the ground here. DAS DiCarlo agreed that markers would be helpful along the way to show progress; Lehne underscored that the UNSC will likely need some time to discuss the UNOSEK proposal and denied there was any "plan B" if the UNSC failed to come to a consensus. ¶9. (SBU) In response to a query from DiCarlo, Ruecker said that UNMIK and Belgrade's Coordination Center for Kosovo and Metohija (CCK) are likely to come to agreement on providing electricity to Serb areas hit hardest by power outages. Ruecker said that UNMIK was committed to making the idea work, but noted that the power the CCK was offering was only partial repayment for the intermittent but free electricity Serb areas had received over the past seven years (note: Serb areas do not pay electricity bills to KEK, the Kosovo provider, despite receiving at least four hours of electricity from KEK per day). Kosovo Serbs assured that the status package will take their concerns into account ¶10. (SBU) DiCarlo and the EU representatives told Kosovo Serb political party leaders December 4 that the status package will give them important rights, but said that the Serbs will only be able to realize those rights and make them meaningful if they participate in institutions. They also urged the Serbs to help explain the details of the status package to their communities. SLKM leader Oliver Ivanovic said his main concern is security during the coming months, and he urged KFOR to clarify how it will respond to a possible crisis similar to the March 2004 riots. He said that the package should contain strong measures to ensure that Kosovo Serbs can participate effectively in institutions, and not serve as mere &decorations.8 He gave another pitch for his proposed Lipljan municipality, calling it the only real urban center for Serbs outside Mitrovica, and voiced his opposition to &asymmetrical8 competencies for municipalities, saying that all municipalities should have equal competencies, regardless of ethnic composition. ¶11. (SBU) Fellow SLKM member and member of the Belgrade status negotiating team Goran Bogdanovic maintained that Kosovo Serbs have many questions about what their lives will be like after status, and more disinformation than real answers. He said that the status package must increase their rights, not reduce them (for example, in the Assembly). Kosovo Serb president of the Autonomous Liberal Party (SLS) Slobodan Petrovic used the opportunity to urge the assembled SLKM members to return to Kosovo institutions, and said that the only reason his party is not in institutions is that it was formed after the last election. Dragisa Miric, president of the newly registered Serb Kosovo and Metohija Party (SKMS),claimed that his party is ready to participate in PRISTINA 00001063 004 OF 004 institutions. ¶12. (SBU) During a meeting on December 5 in the central Kosovo Serb-majority municipality of Novo Brdo, Kosovo Serb municipal leaders shared their concerns about security, freedom of movement, rule of law, returns, the economy and what they perceive to be the lack of standards implementation. Several, including Novo Brdo mayor Petar Vasic and Strpce mayor Stanko Jakovljevic, complained that despite their active participation in the Provisional Institutions of Self Government (PISG),diminishing municipal budgets limit their ability to address the pressing needs of their constituents. They asked the DAS and EU representatives to ensure that the status package will include institutional protections for Serbs and other non-Albanian communities. Moderate Serbian List for Kosovo and Metohija (SLKM) MP Vesna Jovanovic complained that the people who will implement the decentralization provisions on the ground have been left out of the status negotiation process. Several of the Serb leaders expressed fear about what the future holds for Serbs in an independent Kosovo, and others mentioned their disappointment over what they consider to be unfulfilled promises from the international community to protect them and ensure conditions for their survival. DAS DiCarlo and her EU colleagues assured the Serbs that most if not all of their concerns are addressed in the status package, and said that a strong international mission will have the power to ensure that the package is implemented ) including the power to veto legislation contravening the settlement. They urged the Serbs to read the status proposal carefully, and to form their own opinions rather than accept Belgrade's views uncritically. ¶13. (C) COMMENT: DAS DiCarlo's visit did much to convince Kosovo officials and the general population that status is still on track despite the "unwelcome necessity" of delaying delivery of the Ahtisaari proposal until after the January 21 Serb parliamentary elections. The representative from the incoming German EU presidency was a helpful addition to the delegation and provided a strong view from a capital that will have considerable responsibility for EU policy in the first half of 2007. The delegation's joint message to the Kosovars -- that the U.S. and EU are still committed to finishing this process, that the PISG and the Negotiating Team should use this time to work with us to finish up Standards implementation and start the transition from UNMIK in earnest, that Kosovo political leaders and its public should embrace the status package when it is presented, and that a recurrence of violence such as occurred on Albanian Flag Day is unacceptable -- was clearly received. We will work to ensure that it resounds over these next important months. END COMMENT. ¶14. (U) DAS DiCarlo has cleared on this message. ¶15. (SBU) U.S. Office Pristina clears this cable in its entirety for release to U.N. Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari. KAIDANOW