NORTH MITROVICA LEADERS CLARIFY MUNICIPAL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000575

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KCRM PGOV PINR KDEM UNMIK YI PREF
SUBJECT: NORTH MITROVICA LEADERS CLARIFY MUNICIPAL
DECLARATIONS

REF: A. PRISTINA 518


B. PRISTINA 531

C. PRISTINA 519

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SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PROTECT ACCORDINGLY


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Two influential Kosovo Serbs from north
Mitrovica clarified recent declarations issued by Kosovo's
three northern Serb-majority municipalities and the Mitrovica
advisory board ostensibly cutting off ties with the
government in Pristina. UNMIK representatives say the
declarations amount to affirmation of what they call the
already-existing "soft partition" of the north. One ethnic
Serb hard-liner believes that violence could ensue if KFOR
continues its ongoing build-up in the north. He acknowledged
that civilian defense committees are being established, but
insisted they are no more than unarmed neighborhood watch
units. END SUMMARY.

HARD-LINER SAYS DECLARATIONS WERE RUSHED AND UNCLEAR
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2. (SBU) During a July 3 meeting with PolOff and PolFSN,
Serbian National Council (SNC) leader Nebojsa Jovic
criticized three June declarations issued by Kosovo's three
northern Serb-majority municipalities (Zvecan, Leposavic and
Zubin Potok) formally cutting ties with Pristina's
Provisional Institutions of Self-Government (PISG) (Ref A).
He said that the declarations were meant to encourage the
Kosovo Police Service (KPS) to do a better job at preventing
and solving crimes. However, he said the declarations were
hasty and poorly thought out. He said northern leaders have
never recognized the PISG, and there is nothing new about
that. He added that it was illogical for the mayors to
demand that crimes against Serbs be solved, while
simultaneously saying in the declarations that regional
police units cannot come to the north to investigate those
crimes. He tempered his criticisms of the declarations by
saying they grew out of the realities faced by Kosovo Serbs,
which he also said Belgrade does not fully understand.


3. (SBU) Jovic said that the declarations' call for
"self-defense committees" was poorly explained and
formulated, and has therefore been misunderstood by the
international community as paramilitary and "evil." He said
the committees will be unpaid, volunteer corps of citizens
that will operate like a neighborhood watch, observing
potential trouble-spots and notifying the police of
incidents. He said they will not be uniformed or armed.


4. (SBU) Although Jovic strongly criticized the declarations
as tactical position papers, he took little issue with their
substance. He said that although he was not personally at
the rally in Zvecan on June 5 when the first declaration was
announced, he believes that Mitrovica regional coordinator of
the Kosovo Coordination Center (CCK) Momir Kasalovic got
carried away during the speeches and announced incorrectly
that Zvecan was breaking ties with both the PISG and with
UNMIK. (NOTE. Kasalovic has denied he made such a
statement, blaming an erroneous translation (Ref A). END
NOTE). Jovic said that, "the SNC quickly fixed the problem"
because cutting off ties with UNMIK would be a mistake that
would only widen the political space for Kosovo Serb leaders
like Oliver Ivanovic and his Serbian List for Kosovo and
Metohija (SLKM). (COMMENT. Jovic believes Oliver Ivanovic
and other relative moderates continually work against the
interests of Kosovo Serbs, most recently by making an
independent proposal on decentralization during status
negotiations (Ref B). Jovic said that only the Belgrade
status negotiating team can speak for Kosovo Serbs and that
the SNC makes its proposals directly to the team through
their E.O.-listed representative Marko Jaksic. END
COMMENT.).

NORTHERN SERBS PAYING CLOSE ATTENTION

PRISTINA 00000575 002 OF 002


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5. (SBU) Jovic said that right now Kosovo Serbs have
everything to lose and that it is a critical time when every
action and word must be carefully measured and thought out in
advance. He said that he does not believe status talks will
lead to independence and said Kosovo Serbs must use all
possible diplomatic means to prevent that result. He said
northern Kosovo Serbs worry that the recent increased KFOR
presence north of the Ibar is part of a build-up leading to
independence, and he said that if troop levels continue to
rise, so will fear levels, which he believes could lead to
violence (Ref C).


6. (SBU) Jovic said that he is in "constant contact" with
UNMIK Civil Police (CIVPOL) Mitrovica Regional Commander Gary
Smith, and said he does all that he can to reduce tensions in
northern Mitrovica. He supports ongoing engagement with
Kosovo Albanians, and recently participated in a retreat in
Montenegro to foster ongoing dialogue, sponsored by Norway.


7. (SBU) On June 23 the Advisory Board to UNMIK,s
Administration in Mitrovica (UAM) issued a declaration
echoing those issued earlier by the three northern
municipalities. However, on July 3 the UAM Advisory Board
Chairman and Mitrovica representative of the Kosovo
Coordination Center (CCK) Srboljub Milenkovic clarified for
PolOff and PolFSN that although the media widely reported
that the board was cutting ties with the PISG, in fact the
board was only supporting the declarations by the three
northern municipalities. He said that the role of the
advisory board is to advise UNMIK on issues related to
Mitrovica, and it has no ties with the PISG in any event.
(NOTE. In addition to his appointed positions, Milenkovic
was an elected member of the parliament of Serbia and
Montenegro until the dissolution of the state union last
month. END NOTE.). There are eight members on the advisory
board, including six Serbs, one Albanian and one Bosniak.
According to UNMIK Mitrovica Municipal Representative Joe
Kazlas, only the six Serbs signed the declaration.

UNMIK SEES DECLARATIONS AS REFLECTING "SOFT PARTITION"
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8. (SBU) UNMIK's Kazlas told PolOff and PolFSN on July 3
that the declarations by the three northern municipalities
reflect an ongoing reality, not a call for dramatic change.
He said he has taken to describing that reality in internal
UNMIK reporting as "soft partition," by which he means a
situation in which bureaucrats in the north calmly ignore all
directives from Pristina. He said that if a decentralization
plan is approved that allows direct financial links between
Belgrade and Serb municipalities that completely bypass
Pristina institutions, then soft partition could last forever.


9. (SBU) Kazlas said Kosovo Serbs can live with soft
partition, and therefore do not need violence. However, the
said the self-defense committees are being established to
respond to possible provocations by Kosovo Albanians. Kazlas
said one has already been activated in Zvecan, and is using
an old brick factory in Zikovac as its base. He said that
most of the members seem to be unemployed Trpca miners.
CivPol sources confirmed that there is a self-defense unit
head-quartered at the brick factory. On a July 7 visit to
the factory, DATT saw about twenty people cleaning and doing
minor refurbishments; one of these workers claimed that about
200 members of an unarmed security force (including some
former military) are expected next month.


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