KOSOVO: INCREASED VOLUME OF ALBANIAN ATTACKS ON

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000736

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/05/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: INCREASED VOLUME OF ALBANIAN ATTACKS ON
DECENTRALIZATION CONCEPT

REF: PRISTINA 725

Classified By: COM TINA KAIDANOW FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) SUMMARY: The recent appearance of the Kosovo
negotiating team before the Kosovo Assembly and public
criticism of key elements of the final status talks have
resulted in protests against decentralization in the affected
municipalities, as well as attacks by political "pundits" in
the media claiming that the Unity Team (particularly Deputy
Prime Minister Lutfi Haziri) has conceded too much to the
Office of the UN Special Envoy. Much of this criticism has
been leveled in the absence of any real knowledge about the
provisions of the decentralization proposals, but that has
not stopped the groundswell of indignation at the supposed
prospect of "enclavizing" Kosovo -- i.e., giving away
functional control over swaths of Kosovo territory. We
expect the volume of criticism to increase in the coming
weeks, but we also believe that it is in the interests of the
final status process to air these issues publicly and stress
the importance of an agreement on decentralization to the
ultimate status decision. END SUMMARY.

Unity Team Goes Public


2. (C) Responding both to a growing degree of public interest
in the content of UNOSEK-led negotiations in Vienna and to a
"summons" by the Kosovo Assembly to account for its work, the
Kosovar "Unity Team" appeared for the first time in front of
the Assembly on September 1 to brief on its activities. The
Assembly response to the Team's presentation was generally
muted, though a number of the delegates took issue with the
notion of "negotiating away" Kosovo's functionality through
territorially-based decentralization (reftel). That
criticism continued into the September 6 Assembly session,
scheduled as a follow-on to the initial debate. Almost every
Assembly member signed up to speak, and many of the comments
were unflattering to the efforts of the Unity Team, though
none of the delegates was bold or foolish enough to call for
an end to negotiations.

Press Drumbeat Against Decentralization Mounts


3. (C) Spurred by the Assembly debate and always eager to
stir up controversy, the "yellow" segment of Kosovo's press
and a half-baked stable of political "pundits" have seized on
the provisions -- some actual, some imagined -- of the
decentralization agreement and heaped venom on the alleged
"enclavization" of Kosovo territory. Attacks have been
leveled at the "transparency" of the Unity Team's work, with
one commentator asserting a lack of communication between the
negotiators and other political players; on the absence of
coordination between Kosovo's central authorities and those
municipalities most affected by the decentralization
proposal; and on the "illegitimacy" of "giving away"
territory to Serb control and thereby impairing Kosovo's
eventual functionality. Former Gjilan mayor and current
Deputy Prime Minister Lutfi Haziri has been singled out for
the most vocal criticism given his prominent role in the
decentralization talks, despite the fact that the Unity
Team's positions are the product of mutual consensus and
inter-party agreement.

Unhappiness Reflected on the Ground


4. (C) Press allegations aside, by far the most serious
degree of unhappiness has been expressed by the leadership of
those municipal areas whose boundaries are likely to be
altered as the result of the creation of new Serb
municipalities. Local apprehension at the outcome of the
Vienna talks has manifested itself in the creation of strange
political bedfellows; most recently, members of a broad
spectrum of Kosovar parties -- including ruling coalition
partners Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and the Alliance
for the Future of Kosovo (AAK),the opposition PDK, the KLA
Veterans Association, and Albin Kurti's Self-Determination
Movement -- organized a protest in Viti against the final

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status negotiations. (NOTE: Under the current
decentralization proposal, the proposed Serb-majority
municipality of Kllokot/Vrbovac will be carved out of Viti
municipality. END NOTE.) The protest attracted a crowd of
about 400 participants, larger than previous demonstrations
of this sort, though it was peaceful and controlled.
Officials in Gjilan municipality are also considering
organizing street protests on September 9. The local branch
of the LDK in Gjilan, whose head is a supporter of ousted
Kosovo Assembly president Nexhat Daci, issued a statement
September 4 opposing the current decentralization plan.

Comment


5. (C) Thus far, none of the criticism aimed at the
decentralization negotiations has taken on outsized
proportions, but the atmospherics are slowly becoming more
hostile as the realization dawns that decentralization will
be meaningful and that status will require some tough
choices. The critics are right in one sense; the Unity Team
has done little to explain its efforts or to demonstrate why
the creation of new Serb municipalities with substantial
competencies will be so important to the eventual status
outcome. This is a mistake they are slowly beginning to
rectify with their public (and, encouragingly, joint)
appearances. Nevertheless, the rising level of volume on
decentralization, as well as reluctance to anger local party
functionaries in key municipalities, will likely make the
Unity Team ever more chary of taking bold steps. We will
encourage them to ignore the short-term hits and keep their
focus on the big picture, and we will be publicly supportive
of their negotiating efforts as long as they are in keeping
with UNOSEK expectations.


6. (SBU) U.S. Office Pristina clears this cable in its
entirety for release to U.N. Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari.
KAIDANOW