AHTISAARI'S KOSOVO VISIT: PROGRESS ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000211

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/ACE, IO, NSC FOR BBRAUN, USUN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/10/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: AHTISAARI'S KOSOVO VISIT: PROGRESS ON
DECENTRALIZATION BEFORE STATUS


Classified By: Philip S. Goldberg for Reasons 1.4 (B) AND (D)


1. (C) SUMMARY. The second visit to Kosovo of Martti
Ahtisaari, UN Special Envoy for Kosovo Final Status Talks,
focused on creating an improved political situation for
Kosovo's minority populations. He demanded progress on
property rights, prosecution of crimes against Kosovo Serbs,
and concrete implementation of elements of decentralization.
He publicly stated he believed the February 20-21
decentralization meeting in Vienna had been a "good start,"
and urged Kosovo's leaders to be continuously engaged on both
central and local levels and in future Vienna meetings on
cultural and religious heritage, minority rights and the
economy. The Kosovo government's public reaction to
Ahtisaari's visit was positive. Ahtisaari's messages to
Pristina-based representatives of the Contact Group focused
on accelerating on-the-ground progress from a technical
standpoint. END SUMMARY.

MESSAGE TO PISG: PROGRESS ON "STATUS-NEUTRAL" ISSUES
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2. (C) Martti Ahtisaari's message to Kosovo Albanian leaders
during his March 1-3 visit to Kosovo called for immediate
action and further concessions by Pristina on
decentralization before status is discussed. On March 1, the
first day of his visit, Ahtisaari met with the members of the
Kosovo Albanian final status negotiating team and held a
private meeting with newly-elected Kosovo President Fatmir
Sejdiu. Ahtisaari later told Contact Group heads of office
that he had urged team members to speed up the process of
creating a better political situation for Kosovo's minority
populations on concrete issues such as property rights,
crimes against Serbs (he said he asked UNMIK to investigate a
case brought to his attention during a meeting with Kosovo
Serb municipal presidents),and implementation of technical
aspects of decentralization realizable in the short-term,
such as the drafting of legislation on local elections, local
self-government and local finance. Cultural heritage and
church property can also be addressed before status is
determined, he said. In a local television interview aired
on March 4, he said that if the PISG does not have the
capacity to address these issues, "the international
community is here to assist" and to find areas of common
ground for compromise. "Negotiation is compromise," he
added.


3. (C) Ahtisaari told Contact Group reps on March 3 that he
viewed positively recent changes in the Kosovo government:
the election of President Fatmir Sejdiu following President
Ibrahim Rugova's death on January 21, and the replacement of
Prime Minister Bajram Kosumi with Kosovo Protection Corps
commander General Agim Ceku. He said the new government must
move quickly if it is to "finish the (final status) process
in 2006."

"BOTTOM UP" APPROACH ON DECENTRALIZATION
--------------


4. (C) Ahtisaari's second day in Kosovo focused on gathering
opinions on technical aspects of decentralization in meetings
with political and municipal representatives from Kosovo's
majority-Serb communities, members of Kosovo's non-Serb
minority communities, a Kosovo women's group, and
representatives of the ethnic Albanian Association of Kosovo
Municipalities. He told the Contact Group reps that, during
a meeting in Lipljan with the mayors of Kosovo's five
Serb-majority municipalities, he had pushed minority
participation in status efforts and in Kosovo political
structures. He said he was was encouraged by efforts being
made to improve relations among minority communities, but
told the press that "a lot more needs to be done" and that
leaders of all communities to be generous in recogniction
that "changing people's attitudes doesn't cost a penny."
This should be done, he said, not because the international
community is asking for it, but because it is in the interest
of all people in Kosovo. Zubin Potok (Serb majority) Mayor
Slavisa Ristic told the press that granting of a Serb request
for local autonomy in the justice and policing sectors would
"solve the problem of (Serb) existence" and lack of freedom
of movement.

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FUTURE REDUCED INTERNATIONAL PRESENCE
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5. (C) Ahtisaari told the Contact Group reps that he
favored a lighter international presence in Kosovo than has
been proposed in European capitals. Likening Kosovo to a
30-year-old bachelor still living with his mother, he said,
"It's time to live with more responsibility." He added that
he found it difficult to conceptualize how Kosovo could be
left without some sort of post-status armed force, be it
called a gendarmerie, a national guard or an army. "How will
they secure a society without an organized force?" he asked,
and "how will they enter Euro-Atlantic structures?" To
Kosovars, he said in a half-hour March 4 televised local
interview that he hoped that in five years there will be a
Balkan "class" joining Euro-Atlantic structures such as the
Partnership for Peace. In his departing March 3 press
conference, Ahtisaari confirmed that the second meeting on
decentralization will be held in Vienna on March 17, and he
encouraged leaders to look to the future, instead of
"dwelling" on the past.


6. (SBU) This message is cleared in its entirety for release
to UN Special Envoy Ahtisaari.
GOLDBERG