KOSOVO: ACTING SRSG PUSHES BELGRADE/WHO ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000599

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/ACE, DRL, PRM, IO, NSC FOR BBRAUN,
USUN, BUDAPEST FOR POSNER-MULLEN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREF EAID SENV PHUM UNMIK KDEM YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: ACTING SRSG PUSHES BELGRADE/WHO ON
TREATMENT OF LEAD-POISONED ROMA

REF: PRISTINA 339

PRISTINA 00000599 001.2 OF 002


SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. Although medication is on hand, medical
personnel have been trained, and construction of a clinic has
been completed, treatment of Mitrovica-area Roma acutely ill
with lead poisoning has not begun. The World Health
Organization (WHO) has been waiting for more than three
months for the Serbian ministry of health to authorize ethnic
Serb doctors in Mitrovica to administer the medication (DSMA)
imported for use in Mitrovica. A/SRSG Steven Schook told CDA
that he had discussed the matter on July 14 with Sanda
Raskovic-Ivic, chief of the Belgrade-based Kosovo
Coordination Center, and that Raskovic-Ivic had not been
encouraging but agreed to discuss the matter with the
ministry. Schook said he told Raskovic-Ivic that UNMIK would
authorize Kosovo Albanian doctors to undertake treatment of
the Roma if the ministry does not come around within one
week. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) With USG assistance funds in the pipeline, UNMIK has
completed construction of a medical clinic at the north
Mitrovica temporary relocation center (Osterode) that houses
450 of northern Kosovo's 530 ethnic Roma who have fled
lead-contaminated refugee camps. At the end of April, the
World Health Organization (WHO) determined that 55 of 120
Roma children tested had "dangerous" levels of lead in their
blood (reftel). WHO thereafter trained ethnic Serb and
ethnic Albanian medical personnel to administer the lead
abatement medication DSMA and an initial shipment of the drug
has been imported by UNMIK from the U.S.


3. (SBU) All ethnic Serb medical personnel in Kosovo are
accredited by the Serbian ministry of health, notwithstanding
UNMIK's ostensibly exclusive jurisdiction. DSMA has not been
approved for use by the Serbian ministry of health, and
therefore Serbian health workers will not administer it.
When UNMIK negotiated early this year a detailed agreement
with ethnic Serb political leaders from Mitrovica for the use
of Osterode, WHO quietly applied through its Belgrade office
to the Serbian ministry of health for permission to
administer the drug. (NOTE: The Mitrovica-area Roma have
generally tense relations with area Serbs but a history of
serious violence with area Albanians, leaving engagement of
ethnic Serbs to provide treatment the better of two
problematic options. END NOTE.)


4. (SBU) WHO's Pristina chief Gerry McWeeney reports that the
ministry never formally answered WHO's application to use
DSMA. McWeeney told poloff July 13 that WHO Belgrade met
with the Serbian minister of health on July 10 and maintained
that Serbia, as signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights
of the Child, is obligated to immediately provide treatment
to seriously at-risk Roma children. UNMIK sent a similar
message in a letter to the ministry in the beginning of June,
and received no response.


5. (SBU) One million USD in USG funds for medical treatment
will arrive as soon as UNMIK's Acting SRSG Steven Schook
signs a grant agreement sent to UNMIK on July 13. CDA
reminded A/SRSG Steven Schook on July 14 that WHO had
previously suggested that ethnic Albanian medical personnel
treat the Roma if the Serb personnel cannot. Schook raised
the matter that day with Kosovo Coordination Center head
Sanda Raskovic-Ivic. According to Schook, Raskovic-Ivic was
well-familiar with the situation but doubted the ministry
would authorize the treatment. Schook said she promised to
within one week come back to Schook after talking to the
ministry.


6. (SBU) COMMENT. WHO's evident plan to wait indefinitely
for the Serbian ministry of health to authorize treatment is
unacceptable given the acute health threat involved. Schook
seems prepared to force the issue. After many months of
effort by well-intentioned internationals, including the USG
and WHO, most obstacles to treatment have been eliminated.
Schook's no-nonsense approach may provide just the right
prescription for eliminating the rest. END COMMENT.

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MCBRIDE