KOSOVO: PROGRESS NEEDED ON MISSING PERSONS CASES

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PRISTINA 000265 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE NSC FOR BRAUN USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KCRM PGOV PINR KDEM UNMIK YI SUBJECT: KOSOVO: PROGRESS NEEDED ON MISSING PERSONS CASES REF: A. 05 BELGRADE 1940 ¶B. 05 PRISTINA 1036 ¶C. 05 PRISTINA 958 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PROTECT ACCORDINGLY ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY. The Pristina and Belgrade delegations at the March 9 meeting of the working group on missing persons agreed that progress on the identification and return of remains from the 1999 conflict is too slow. Kosovo's delegation demanded the immediate return of the 180 remaining bodies exhumed from mass graves in Serbia as well as quicker identification of the 800 sets of remains held in the UNMIK-run Kosovo morgue in Rahovec. The Serbian delegation said that not all the bodies in Serbia had been identified, but they would try to complete the transfer by mid-July. International forensics organizations working on the estimated 2,400 active cases of missing persons recognize the need to speed up resolution of those cases that are resolvable and to formally close cases that are not. The delegations also agreed that a more coordinated and comprehensive approach to the search for additional graves is needed. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (SBU) On March 9 PolOff and PolFSN attended the fifth working group session on missing persons, chaired by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This ongoing direct dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade began on March 9, 2004 in Pristina and the last meeting took place in Belgrade in October 2005 (Ref A). Progress on finding and repatriating bodies has been slow, and on January 12 the ICRC had expressed doubt about whether it was worthwhile to continue chairing the working group, given a lack of political will on both sides (Ref B). ¶3. (SBU) The Pristina delegation was led by Kosovo assembly member Ragip Zekolli, and included Naser Rugova (advisor the Prime Minister),UNMIK Office of Missing Persons and Forensics (OMPF) forensics doctor Arsim Grxhaliu and the new director of UNMIK's department of justice (DOJ) Al Moskowitz. The Belgrade delegation was led by Serbian member of parliament Veljko Odalovic, and included Serbian missing persons commission member Gvozen Gagic and Belgrade forensic specialist Slavisa Dobricanin. ¶4. (SBU) At the outset of the meeting, representatives of Kosovo and Serbian family associations urged faster action in the resolution of outstanding cases. The Pristina delegation passed along a special request from Kosovo Albanian family members from the village of Krusha e Vogel, the site of a war-time massacre in which 112 men and boys were apparently targeted by Serb forces (Ref C). Those families asked that Serbia return identified sets of remains of persons from the village in time for a memorial service scheduled for March 26, the anniversary of the massacre. The Belgrade side responded that the transfer could not be completed that quickly, since Serbian law mandates the involvement of prosecutors and a judge before the bodies can be transferred. The Belgrade delegation agreed to make its best efforts to implement all of the transfers by the end of July, regardless of whether or not the bodies had been identified. ¶5. (SBU) Pristina and Belgrade delegations presented progress reports on resolving individual cases, locating additional graves, and implementing forensics and legal measures to assist families of the missing. Both delegations praised the work of the OMPF, and criticized the work of the Sarajevo-based International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP). In Kosovo, ICMP collects blood samples from family members and tries to match DNA from these blood samples with DNA from bone samples taken from exhumed bodies. ¶6. (SBU) Working group chairman Francois Stamm of the ICRC in Geneva announced that since the last meeting of the working group in October 2005, 206 bodies had been identified and repatriated to families. He said that an additional 47 PRISTINA 00000265 002 OF 003 cases were added to the provisional list, according to which 2,398 people are unaccounted for as of March 1, compared to 2,557 in October 2005 and over 3,000 at the start of 2005. Stamm urged both sides to renew efforts this spring when warmer temperatures will allow further exhumations. He said that, "without tangible results, I fear the working group will lose its legitimacy in the eyes of the families of those missing." The next meeting of the working group is scheduled for May 31 in Belgrade. ¶7. (SBU) Moskowitz told E/P Chief, PolOff and RLA on March 20 that he considers finding new grave sites to be a top priority, and that he will engage with the police and OMPF to determine strategies for moving forward. He said that possibilities include greater use of ICMP expertise in locating grave sites as well as the use of cadaver dogs to investigate possible sites. ¶8. (SBU) Kathryne Bomberger of the ICMP headquarters in Sarajevo told PolOff by telephone that ICMP has finished profiling 96% of the bone samples that have been given to them by UNMIK/OMPF. She said that ICMP has determined that there are approximately 1,500 persons not accounted for (not including the 800 bodies in Rahovec and the 180 in Serbia). ¶9. (SBU) Bomberger said ICMP has proposed an amendment to its memorandum of understanding (MOU) with UNMIK, which would allow ICMP to get directly involved in locating grave sites and in building local capacity to take over from OMPF. The current MOU limits the ICMP,s role to blood sample collection and DNA analysis. She said that the amended MOU has been submitted to SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen, who has referred the issue to the ICRC, where it remains pending. ¶10. (SBU) Currently OMPF is the sole organization charged with discovering grave sites and exhuming bodies in Kosovo. OMPF conducted 70 field operations (exhumations and assessments) in 2005 yielding 118 sets of human remains. The number of annual field operations and recoveries has decreased since 2002 due to difficulty in locating grave sites. ¶11. (SBU) OMPF director Dr. Jose Pablo Baraybar told PolOff and PolFSN on March 21 (via conference call from South America, where he is on sick leave) that OMPF does not require additional assistance from ICMP, and sees no need to modify the MOU. He said that ICMP's technology-based methods for discovering new grave sites are not applicable in Kosovo, where graves are small and widely dispersed. He said that OMPF is already actively involved in local capacity-building and training, especially now that UNMIK is down-sizing in Kosovo and cutting funding for international staff. He said that the best way to achieve progress is for the Contact Group to apply political pressure on Pristina and Belgrade officials to release information regarding the location of grave sites. Acting OMPF director Krassimer Nikolov said that it would also help if they could access information and photos collected by international KFOR contingents during KFOR's first six months in Kosovo. (NOTE. After Baraybar hung up, Nikolov (who is leaving OMPF in two weeks) said that OMPF could use assistance, including from ICMP, in finding grave sites. END NOTE.) ¶12. (SBU) COMMENT. Assuming the 980 sets of remains held in Belgrade and Rahovec are all identified, there would still be some 1420 missing persons from the Kosovo conflict. None of the parties involved in this issue - including ICMP, OMPF, UNMIK, governments and the international community - have come up with a coherent plan to comprehensively follow up on leads and to survey the Kosovo/Serbia land mass. All agree that better coordination and less political posturing would improve prospects for discovering more graves, but even exemplary coordination would provide no certainty that all these cases would be resolved. END COMMENT. ¶13. (U) Post clears this message in its entirety for PRISTINA 00000265 003 OF 003 release to Special Envoy Ahtisaari. GOLDBERG