Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06PRISTINA335
2006-04-20 14:13:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Pristina
Cable title:  

KOSOVO: A UNIFIED CONTACT GROUP PRESSES STANDARDS,

Tags:  PGOV PREL KDEM UNMIK YI 
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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6031
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0650
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
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RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
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RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUFOANA/USNIC PRISTINA SR
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PRISTINA 000335 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE, AND EUR/SSA, NSC FOR BRAUN,
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: A UNIFIED CONTACT GROUP PRESSES STANDARDS,
FLEXIBILITY


Sensitive but unclassified; please protect accordingly.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PRISTINA 000335

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE, AND EUR/SSA, NSC FOR BRAUN,
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: A UNIFIED CONTACT GROUP PRESSES STANDARDS,
FLEXIBILITY


Sensitive but unclassified; please protect accordingly.


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Representatives of the Contact Group (CG)
visited Kosovo April 6-7 to highlight CG unity and deliver a
focused message about the importance of the standards and
elements of an eventual future status settlement; by prior
agreement, the CG did not address the status outcome itself.
CG representatives met in Mitrovica with the mayors of the
three northern municipalities, who said that Kosovo's Serbs
are not interested in building or participating in Kosovo
government institutions that emerge after status is
determined. In Pristina, SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen gave an
upbeat assessment of Kosovo's new government and COMKFOR
Guiseppe Valotto asserted that KFOR was more capable now to
respond to civil unrest than it had been in the past. The
Kosovo Albanian status negotiating team pledged to the CG to
focus on the standards and take other measures to build
confidence with Kosovo's minorities; opposition leader Hashim
Thaci used the meeting to blast the "institutionalized
corruption" of the current government. In response, CG
representatives asked Kosovo Albanian leaders to be flexible
and generous in the Kosovo status negotiations and to
reinvigorate work on the standards. President Fatmir Sejdiu
and Prime Minister Agim Ceku, both newcomers, impressed the
CG with their seriousness. Moderate Kosovo Serbs spoke
critically of Belgrade, asked for CG support for them to
rejoin Kosovo institutions and pressed for
constitutionally-based rights guarantees. Non-Serb
minorities (Roma, Turk, Bosniak),deeply appreciative of the
CG's attention, offered support for decentralization,
provided it addresses their communities' specific needs. END
SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) Representatives of the Contact Group (CG) visited
Kosovo April 6-7, 2006 after meetings earlier in the week in
Athens and Belgrade. DAS Rosemary DiCarlo and Kosovo desk
officer Joshua Black represented the United States; also
attending were Johannes Haindl (Germany),Gerard McGurk
(United Kingdom),Raimondo De Cardona (Italy),Jean-Francois

Terral (France),Alexander Botsan-Kharchenko (Russia),Hannes
Porias (Austria/EU Presidency) and Alexandros Giannis (EU).
In order to highlight CG unity, the CG agreed in advance to
not discuss the status outcome, but rather to highlight the
elements of an eventual settlement, the importance of
standards implementation and the need to engage
constructively in the ongoing status negotiations.

Northern Mayors Want No Part in an Independent Kosovo
-------------- --------------


3. (SBU) On April 6 CG representatives met in north Mitrovica
with the hard-line mayors of Zvecan, Zubin Potok and
Leposavic and the Mitrovica head of the Serbian government
Coordination Center for Kosovo (CCK). All mayors said they
refused to accept the idea that the protection of Kosovo
Serbs is a CG priority. They also rejected any sort of
participation in Kosovo government institutions unless there
were a veto mechanism to protect minority interests. The
three mayors urged the CG not to rush the status process and
stated that conditions do not yet exist for
internally-displaced persons in Kosovo to return to their
homes. Leposavic mayor Velimir Bojovic referred to Kosovo's
ethnic Albanians as "terrorists" and warned the CG against
rewarding them with their own state. DAS DiCarlo asserted
decentralization can protect Serbs and facilitate
transparently-funded assistance from Belgrade. She repeated
the CG position that there can be no partition of Kosovo.
The French representative said that the idea of a separate
Serb "entity" does not fit the Kosovo reality, especially for
Kosovo Serbs in enclaves south of the Ibar. He argued that
the creation of new municipalities and decentralization would
achieve the same ends, but without the de facto division of
Kosovo.


4. (SBU) CG representatives criticized a recent CCK directive
forcing Kosovo Serbs to chose between their Belgrade and

PRISTINA 00000335 002 OF 004


Pristina salaries. CG representatives contended the CCK
ultimatum reinforces parallel structures and undermines the
creation of a multi-ethnic entity. DiCarlo said the CG
strongly opposes the directive that teachers chose between
Pristina and Belgrade salaries as disadvantaging an already
disadvantaged population. The mayors said the additional
salaries from Kosovo's Consolidated Budget were paltry when
compared to those paid by Belgrade and criticized Pristina
for not providing benefits such as pensions and social
security.


5. (SBU) After the meeting, the CG issued a short press
statement that called for greater cooperation on both sides
of the Ibar River to solve the problems of the Mitrovica
region. The statement also reaffirmed the CG's opposition to
the partition of Kosovo, de facto or otherwise.

UNMIK Asks CG for Help on Standards Implementation
-------------- --------------


6. (SBU) SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen presented an upbeat
picture of the new Kosovo government in his meeting with the
CG April 7 in Pristina. Jessen-Petersen said he has been
very pleased with new Prime Minister Agim Ceku, particularly
his statements on multi-ethnicity, and his attempt to
re-energize the government. He asked the CG to send Kosovo
leaders a clear message: "we know what you want as the
outcome of final status talks, but now you must earn it." On
the standards, he asked the CG to push for progress on rule
of law, freedom of movement, returns and church
reconstruction. He asked that CG liaison offices in Pristina
support the standards working groups.


7. (SBU) COMKFOR Lt. General Guiseppe Valotto reported that
KFOR troop strength is down substantially from the 41,000
immediately after the end of the conflict in 1999, and KFOR
is better capable of responding to threats than it was during
the March 2004 riots. He noted the lesson learned from the
March riots was that KFOR needed to provide riot control. He
said he hoped KFOR would complete its transformation from a
brigade to a task force structure before his own planned
departure in early September 2006.

Giving the Kosovo Unity Team Advice on Next Steps
-------------- --------------


8. (SBU) Meeting with President Fatmir Sejdiu, DiCarlo asked
for more outreach and public statements encouraging
tolerance, as well as flexibility and compromise in the
status negotiations. Other CG representatives told Sejdiu
that Kosovo Albanians must show a commitment to
multi-ethnicity and pressed for more progress and tangible
results on return of property, investigation of inter-ethnic
crimes and development of the rule of law. Sejdiu agreed
that the return of Kosovo Serbs is a key standard that needs
more work and added that Kosovo Albanians need to make Serbs
feel more at home and encourage them to stay.


9. (SBU) The Kosovo Albanian final status negotiating team
(the "Unity Team") gave themselves high marks for recent
developments in Vienna and Pristina. Opposition leader Veton
Surroi touted achievements of the minority consultative
process he chairs, including the inclusion of non-Serb
minorities on all Kosovo delegations to the Vienna talks, the
imminent designation of the Roma language as one of Kosovo's
official languages (a first in Europe, he claimed),and the
holding of an informal dialogue over several days in Durres,
Albania with Kosovo Serb leaders from the Serbian List for
Kosovo and Metohija (SLKM). He noted that he had briefed
SLKM members in Durres on what had happened at the Vienna
meetings, something he said Belgrade had failed to do, and he
urged the CG to encourage SLKM to keep open this
communication channel.


10. (SBU) Unity Team coordinator Blerim Shala said team
members were working intensively to get ready for what they

PRISTINA 00000335 003 OF 004


hoped would be an accelerated pace of meetings facilitated by
Special Envoy Ahtisaari. While noting the team's red lines
on decentralization (no third layer of government, no
partition of Kosovo),he said there was plenty of room for
generous proposals on Mitrovica, preservation of cultural
heritage, and other matters.


11. (SBU) Speaking on behalf of the CG, DiCarlo enumerated
some of the CG's own status priorities: a negotiated
settlement in 2006; a multi-ethnic Kosovo acceptable to the
Kosovo people; no new layer of government; facilitation of
inter-municipal cooperation; transparent assistance from
Belgrade for Kosovo Serb communities; and creation of new
municipalities. DiCarlo urged the Unity Team to draft a new
proposal on the preservation of cultural and religious
heritage and make more public statements on tolerance,
multi-ethnicity, compromise and the standards. DiCarlo
emphasized that Kosovo negotiators must not take a
nothing-is-agreed-until-everything-is-agreed position, as
they did in Vienna. She also listed a series of specific
actions on the standards that she said could help build
confidence and a better climate for the negotiations: a zero
tolerance initiative on inter-ethnic crime; aggressively
removing ethnic graffiti; adjudicating property rights and
implementing a rental scheme for people who live in homes
owned by displaced persons; passing stalled minority rights
legislation; and accelerating the restoration of Serbian
Orthodox churches damaged in the March 2004 riots.


12. (SBU) President Sejdiu said that his outreach efforts are
coordinated with the SRSG and guided by a simple formula --
property, practical rights, and the right to return to one's
own home. He called for the Vienna process to begin to focus
on Mitrovica, economic development, and missing persons. PM
Agim Ceku said he is well aware of the importance of the
SRSG's next report to the United Nations Security Council.
He announced that an internationally known Serb minority
representative would lead a task force in the PM's office to
draft an action plan on "how we will work with minorities."
Referring to the CG's specific confidence-building
suggestions, Ceku said he agreed with a zero-tolerance
approach to inter-ethnic crime and pledged that the newly
established Ministry of Internal Affairs would work closely
with UNMIK Police and the Kosovo Police Service to implement
this approach and report more regularly on police
interventions. He said the Assembly would hold a special
session on the standards and would expedite consideration of
legislation on language policy and other minority rights
issues. Ceku reported that a new agency director would be
appointed to focus on corruption and that the newly created
Kosovo Property Agency would now have jurisdiction over
outstanding property claims. He said a new working group on
missing persons would be headed by the president of the
Center for Human Rights and Freedoms, a respected Kosovar NGO.


13. (SBU) The Italian representative warned that the Kosovo
delegation's performance in the third Vienna meeting was "not
as smooth" as in the first two and urged a rededication to
making progress on as many details as possible. He suggested
that the constraints under which the Belgrade delegation was
laboring presented an opportunity for the Pristina delegation
to send a high-minded message to the Kosovo Serb minority.
The French representative pushed the Unity Team to be
forthcoming on proposals for inter-municipal cooperation,
including trans-border cooperation.


14. In a brief follow-on session with Ceku, DiCarlo informed
him that the CG had pressed Belgrade to endorse Kosovo Serb
participation in the PISG and had harshly criticized the
CCK's salary initiative. The German representative urged
Ceku to do more to move Kosovo decentralization forward and,
referring to the CG's meeting with northern Kosovo mayors,
urged Ceku to cultivate the mayors as apparent "people of
good will." Ceku replied that "we are implementing what can
be implemented" on decentralization, referring in particular
to the opening of seven police substations in Kosovo Serb

PRISTINA 00000335 004 OF 004


areas with another seven planned.

SLKM Wants Explicit CG Support to Return to PISG Institutions
-------------- --------------


15. (SBU) In its meeting with SLKM representatives Oliver
Ivanovic, Randjel Nojkic and Goran Bogdanovic, the CG
stressed that Kosovo Serbs must participate in Kosovo
institutions in order to get the guarantees they need to live
here. SLKM representatives agreed, but asked the CG to
support their participation and help guarantee they would not
be mere "decoration" to prove that the Kosovo government was
inclusive. Ivanovic complained bitterly about the CCK
directive on Kosovo Serb salaries, which he called
"catastrophic." He asked that minority rights be
specifically enshrined in Kosovo's constitution instead of
through legislation. The French representative told the
group that decentralization -- with the opportunity for real
inter-municipal cooperation -- is the best way to give local
self-government. In response, the Kosovo Serbs offered
differing views on the prospects for decentralization in
Kosovo. Ivanovic asserted that ethnic Serbs needed several
new Kosovo Serb-majority, but not mono-ethnic, municipalities
of significant size and functionality so as to be
sustainable. Bogdanovic said the establishment of new
municipalities would create conditions for returns. Nojkic
opined that imposed decentralization will not last, and it is
therefore important that Kosovo Serbs participate in
negotiations on this topic. He added that Belgrade's
proposal for vertical ties with Serb municipalities could
only be accomplished if it was done in accordance with Kosovo
law.

Non-Serb Minorities Want to be Heard
--------------


16. (SBU) The CG also met with representatives of Kosovo's
non-Serb minority communities: Kosovo Health Minister Sadrik
Idrizi (Bosniak),Kosovo Assembly presidency member Mahir
Yagcilar (Turkish),caucus leader Dzezair Murati (Bosniak)
and Kosovo Assembly member Haxhi Zylfi Mergja (Roma). These
representatives asserted that Kosovo's non-Serb minorities do
not want to be left out of status discussions and were
therefore appreciative the CG agreed to meet with them. They
praised U.S. Office Pristina for its intense, long-term
interest in non-Serb minorities and chided the other CG
liaison offices for their perceived indifference. While they
pledged support for decentralization in general, they asked
for clear criteria for creating new municipalities. They
noted that except for the pilot project municipality in the
mono-ethnic Turkish town of Mamusha, most of Kosovo's
non-Serb minorities live in multi-ethnic communities. They
said they share the view of the Serb minority that minority
rights should be included in Kosovo's eventual constitution.


17. (U) DAS DiCarlo cleared on this message. Post clears
this message in its entirety for release to Special Envoy
Ahtisaari.
GOLDBERG