KOSOVO SERB PUBLIC SERVANTS FORCED TO CHOOSE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PRISTINA 000290

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 SERB PUBLIC SERVANTS FORCED TO CHOOSE
BETWEEN BELGRADE AND PRISTINA

REF: A. 05 BELGRADE 1646

B. 04 PRISTINA 1006

C. 05 PRISTINA 01113

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PROTECT ACCORDINGLY

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. On March 21, Belgrade-based chief of the
Kosovo Coordination Center (CCK) Sanda Raskovic-Ivic told
public sector Kosovo Serbs that Serbia will no longer pay
salaries to employees who also receive salaries from
Pristina. Many Kosovo Serbs believe that if they choose
Pristina, they will lose their jobs, pensions and possibly be
black-listed for future employment in Serbia. Many have
closed their Kosovo bank accounts in order to stop direct
deposit payments from Pristina, while others have sent
letters to their local municipalities requesting that Kosovo
salary payments be discontinued. Moderate Kosovo Serb
politician Oliver Ivanovic criticized the move by the CCK,
saying that it will only encourage Serbs to leave Kosovo.
Prime Minister Ceku and SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen have both
urged Kosovo Serbs to continue to accept their Kosovo
salaries. The CCK order is making an already difficult
situation for Kosovo Serbs worse, and is creating confusion
and resentment among the very population CCK purports to
serve. END SUMMARY.

CCK TELLS SERB SERBS TO CHOOSE BETWEEN SERBIA AND PRISTINA
-------------- --------------


2. (SBU) During a March 21 visit to the large Kosovo Serb
enclave of Velika Hoca in Rahovec/Orahovac municipality,
Kosovo Coordination Center (CCK) chief Sanda Raskovic-Ivic
(Ref A) told Kosovo Serbs that health and education workers
must choose between receiving salaries from Serbia or from
Kosovo. Many Kosovo Serbs (especially in those fields of
employment) receive double salaries ) one from the Serbian
government in Belgrade (up to 400 euro per month depending on
qualifications) plus a lower one from the Kosovo Consolidated
Budget (KCB) of Kosovo's Provisional Institutions of Self
Government (PISG) (130 - 250 euro per month). Kosovo
Albanians only receive the lower KCB salary for the same work.


3. (SBU) Serbian parallel institutions (including most
healthcare facilities and schools in Serb majority areas and
enclaves) are run and financed by Belgrade via the CCK.
Although UNMIK and the PISG exercise little or no authority
over these parallel institutions, the PISG nevertheless pays
salaries to their employees. (NOTE. On March 10 UNMIK
civilian police (CivPol) officers seized two million
undeclared euros at the boundary between Kosovo and Serbia
proper, sent by the Serbian Government to finance parallel
institutions. UNMIK returned the money several days later,
via an intermediary, after Serbia agreed to respect UNMIK law
and regulations on money transfers in the future. END NOTE.)

SERBS TAKE ACTION TO HALT SALARY PAYMENTS
--------------


4. (SBU) Rahovec CCK coordinator Dejan Baljosevic told
PolFSN on March 28 that in response to Raskovic-Ivic's
ultimatum, many Kosovo Serbs have already taken action to
prevent receipt of the next payment of their KCB salary, due
to arrive in the coming days. (NOTE. Salaries are paid at
the end of the month for work done in the preceding month.
END NOTE.)


5. (SBU) A Raiffeisen bank contact told EconFSN on March 30
that out of about 550 accounts held by Kosovo Serb education
workers in Gracanica, about 250 have been closed since
Raskovic-Ivic's edict. The contact said that dozens of
Kosovo Serbs in Gjilan/Gnjilane and Lipjan/Lipljan have also
closed their accounts, and closures are ongoing. ProCredit

PRISTINA 00000290 002 OF 004


Bank in north Mitrovica said Kosovo Serbs there have closed
50-60 accounts, while Raiffeisen said that it has not
experienced closures in north Mitrovica and or in the three
northern municipalities. Raiffeisen in the north is issuing
confirmations to bank account holders whose accounts cannot
be closed due to outstanding loans.


6. (SBU) Baljosevic said that the directors of all Kosovo
Serb schools and healthcare facilities had received forms
from the CCK on which individual employees must circle
whether they wish to receive Serbian or Kosovo salaries.
PolFSN obtained a copy of the form that was given to teachers
at Primary School Vuk Karadzic in Rahovec/Orahovac, on which
employees must also state which employer they wish to remain
employed with: the Republic of Serbia, or "an institution out
of the Republic of Serbia system." The form clearly implies
that if they choose Pristina, then they no longer work for
Serbia. Baljosevic said the forms must be filled out and
returned to the school or hospital directors, who will then
forward them to the municipal officials responsible for
salary payments.


7. (SBU) Livingston said that municipal signs on schools in
upper Rahovec and Velika Hoca, two large Serb enclaves in
Rahovec municipality, were taken down on March 28.


8. (SBU) Permanent secretary to the Kosovo ministry of
education Fehmi Ismajli told PolFSN on March 28 that the
ministry received a letter from Kosovo Serb teachers in
Obilic municipality asking that the ministry stop paying them
"UNMIK salaries." Ismajli said that the ministry wants Kosovo
Serbs employed in the public sector to continue to work, but
he added that the government cannot "compete" with the
enormous pressure exerted by the CCK on Kosovo Serbs.


9. (SBU) Mitrovica regional CCK coordinator Momir Kasalovic
told PolFSN that he and the other four regional CCK
coordinators expect to meet with Raskovic-Ivic to discuss the
difficult logistics of further implementation of the CCK
order. He said that he expects that Kosovo Serbs will be
turning to local CCK officials for advice on how best to
implement the request logistically. Kasalovic said that
ethnic Serb public employees should receive only one salary
and must choose to receive it either from Kosovo or Serbia.

SERBS FEAR LOSS OF BENEFITS OR BLACKLISTING
--------------


10. (SBU) CCK's Baljosevic said that he warned Raskovic-Ivic
that this plan will be difficult to implement because "Kosovo
Serbs south of the Ibar River live among Albanians and depend
on them," but Raskovic-Ivic was determined to force events.
He said that many Kosovo Serbs fear that they might lose
their right to Serbian pensions if they do not choose to
receive Serbian salaries.


11. (SBU) A Kosovo Serb teacher from an enclave near
Gracanica told PolOff that her school director made it clear
that teachers will lose their jobs if they do not provide
proof that they have closed their Kosovo bank account. She
said that one of her colleagues quickly borrowed money from
friends to pay off a loan to the bank in order to be able to
close her account on March 29. The Serb teacher said that
Kosovo Serbs also fear that if they choose Pristina salaries,
they could be black-listed and unable to obtain employment in
Serbia in the future.


12. (SBU) In an indication that the CCK edict may move
beyond the health and education sectors, the Serb teacher
added that two young Serb neighbors - one who works at the
Pristina airport and one who works for the returns ministry -
were told by the CCK that they will lose their social
assistance payments from the Serbian government if they do
not quit their jobs. She said that despite the fact that
their salaries are higher than the 65 euro a month assistance

PRISTINA 00000290 003 OF 004


payments (for Kosovo Serbs who worked at the Obilic mines
before the war),they plan to quit their jobs because they
also fear being black-listed.

DESPITE EXEMPTION FOR THE NORTH, SERBS THERE COMPLYING
-------------- --------------


13. (SBU) Baljosevic said the CCK order does not apply to
the three northern Serb-majority municipalities (Leposavic,
Zubin Potok and Zvecan) or north Mitrovica, because those
areas have "legitimate" elected Serbs serving as municipal
leaders who are recognized by both local Serbs and UNMIK.
Therefore, it does not apply to the hospital in north
Mitrovica run by hard-line EO-listed Serb National Council
(SNC) Mitrovica chief Milan Ivanovic (Ref B).


14. (SBU) While not being forced by the CCK to choose, some
Kosovo Serbs in the north are refusing their Kosovo salaries
anyway. Head of OSCE Mitrovica Region Alastair Livingston
told PolOff that 285 school employees in Leposavic
municipality in northern Kosovo have signed and submitted
letters to UNMIK asking to be removed from Kosovo payrolls.

BELGRADE ALSO PENALIZING SOME NON-SERB MINORITIES
-------------- --------------


15. (SBU) Livingston said that an emissary from the Serbian
ministry of education went to Dragas/Dragash municipality to
encourage employees at Gorani and Bosniak schools operating
under the Serbian parallel system to choose Serbian salaries.
Gorani community teacher and activist Abdi Alija told PolFSN
on March 30 that 200 Gorani employees at such schools have
chosen to continue to receive their Serbian salaries and
reject their KCB salaries. He said that the employees felt
they had no choice, since the Serbian salaries are higher and
also entail other benefits including pensions, children's
allowances and health insurance.


16. (SBU) There are some 1500 Serbian-speaking Gorani living
in the mountainous Dragas municipality in southern Kosovo.
The Gorani community there is the only non-Serb community in
Kosovo with its own CCK representative. Gorani are seen as
closely aligned to Serbs and Serbian-run parallel
institutions, partially because they insist their children be
allowed to study in Serbian language with a Belgrade-based
curriculum. Gorani traditionally send their children on to
universities in Serbia, which do not accept students who
studied under the UNMIK/Kosovo Albanian curriculum (Ref C).


17. (SBU) Dragas deputy mayor Sabidin Cufta told PolFSN on
March 28 Bosniak and Gorani municipal leaders met with the
local population and urged people not to choose the Serbian
salaries, telling the employees that their leaders would
distance themselves from any workers who choose Serbia. He
said that the local leaders now fear "Albanian vengeance" and
don't want to be labeled "Serb collaborators."

CCK MOTIVATED BY VIENNA TALKS
--------------


18. (SBU) Baljosevic said he expects more Kosovo Serbs to
give up their salaries because "Sanda told them Albanians
have been waving in Vienna a list of Serb employees paid by
the KCB as a main argument to show that Serbs will not leave
Kosovo and will accept Kosovo's independence.8

SLKM AND UMIK URGE SERBS TO IGNORE THE ORDER
--------------


19. (SBU) Immediately after the statement by Raskovic-Ivic,
moderate SLKM politician Oliver Ivanovic spoke out against
the move by the CCK, saying that cutting these financial ties
to the PISG would further isolate Kosovo Serbs. He said it
will only encourage Kosovo Serbs to leave Kosovo, especially
since many of them only stay here because they get double

PRISTINA 00000290 004 OF 004


salaries. Ivanovic said Kosovo Serbs need to integrate into
Kosovo, not cut themselves off further.


20. (SBU) On March 28 SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen issued a
press release, stating that Kosovo Serbs are "entitled to
salaries from the KCB for the work they are doing." He said
financing is one of the issues being discussed in status
negotiations, and urged all parties to "refrain from any
unilateral measures." Prime Minister Ceku also urged Kosovo
Serbs to continue to receive their Kosovo salaries.

COMMENT
--------------


21. (SBU) COMMENT. The recent move to force Kosovo Serbs to
choose between salary payments from Serbia or Kosovo shows
just how out of touch the CCK is with the real situation on
the ground for Kosovo Serbs. Many of those Serbs rely on
both salaries to feed their families in an already dire
economic environment, and neither of the salaries alone (or
even together) serves as a living wage for Kosovo Serbs who
generally lack Diaspora funds available to many Kosovo
Albanians. However, many Kosovo Serbs are so confused and
worried about their future in Kosovo that they are willing to
take this drastic step, even when it goes against their
immediate self interest, in order to keep their options open
for a possible move to Serbia in the future. The CCK
initiative may also amount to a not-so-subtle attempt to
consolidate control over Kosovo Serbs and Serb-inhabited
areas. END COMMENT.


22. (U) Post clears this message in its entirety for
release to Special Envoy Ahtisaari.
GOLDBERG