KOSOVO: STANDARDS IMPLEMENTATION PROCEEDS, BUT

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 PRISTINA 000779

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: STANDARDS IMPLEMENTATION PROCEEDS, BUT
MORE WORK TO DO

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


1. (C) SUMMARY: The Kosovo government claims to have
fulfilled nine of the Contact Group's 13 priorities for
Standards implementation. Our estimate is lower, though
overall implementation has moved forward. We can expect that
progress on the remaining outstanding priorities will be
slower as the government is forced to make tough choices. We
cannot agree that the government has completed the two key
standards related to implementation of a rental scheme for
residential properties currently under the administration of
the Kosovo Property Agency (KPA),since the scheme has not
yet generated any payments and appeals on 1,300 cases must
still be considered by the KPA's Housing and Property Claims
Commission. Passage of the Law on Languages hit a snag with
the September 14 rejection by the Kosovo Assembly of
amendments proposed by Kosovo's minority Turkish community.
More can also be done to finish up those remaining cases
being handled by both international and local prosecutors and
judges arising from the March 2004 riots. We will continue
to press the Kosovo government and assembly to finish quickly
the remaining priorities. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) Prime Minister Agim Ceku's office provided us with a
document entitled "Update on Implementation of the Contact
Group's 13 Points." According to the document (faxed to
EUR/SCE),the government claims to have fulfilled nine of the
13 priorities:

-- design and implementation of a rental scheme for the 5,000
residential properties formerly under administration of the
Housing and Property Directorate (HPD);

-- active support for enforcement by the Kosovo Property
Agency (KPA) of the 2,804 HPD claims awaiting implementation;

-- completion and provision of funding for a public transport
strategy for minorities;

-- allocation of all of the 2006 Kosovo government funding
for returns;

-- fully staffing existing central-level language units,
increasing compliance monitoring and making sure all
government decision and regulations are properly translated
into all official languages;

-- allocation of the first grant from the government's
Minority Media Fund;

-- appointment of a director for the Anti-Corruption Agency;

-- establishment of the Independent Media Commission; and

-- urging the Kosovo Assembly to consider the revised draft
law on Public Procurement.


3. (C) UNMIK's Strategy Coordinator Bryan Hopkinson told us
September 15 that during meetings in New York on September
13, UNMIK did not dispute the government's claim that nine
are complete, nor did it provide its own number of completed
priorities. He agreed that arguably the Kosovo government
has completed nine, since it has agreed with the KPA on the
terms of the rental scheme and is now dependent on the KPA as
the implementing body. He stressed that more important than
the number of priorities completed is the amount of real
effort the Kosovo government has put forward and the progress
it has achieved over the last three months, which he judged
as positive.

CULTURAL HERITAGE LAW ALMOST THERE; LAW ON LANGUAGES A PROBLEM


4. (C) The Kosovo Assembly endorsed the Law on Cultural
Heritage in its first reading on July 28, but the draft law
lacks two provisions that the Kosovo government agreed to in
meetings with UNOSEK and the Council of Europe in late April.
Assembly president Kole Berisha and Minister of Culture,

PRISTINA 00000779 002 OF 004


Youth and Sport (the latter of whom we believe to have been
the culprit in excluding them) have both given their
assurance that the provision will be incorporated in the law
before the Assembly gives its final approval in September or
October.


5. (C) The Assembly approved a Council of Europe-compliant
Law on Languages on July 27, but it rejected an amendment to
the law proposed by Turkish members of the Assembly that
would have provided for Turkish to be an official language in
Prizren municipality -- despite a prior agreement between the
government and the Turkish Assembly members. On August 3,
Prime Minister Ceku, Assembly president Berisha, and Mahir
Yagcilar, the head of Kosovo's largest ethnic Turkish party,
agreed to resubmit the provision to the Assembly, but
according to Ceku's advisor Avni Arifi, Berisha could not
convince the Assembly presidency to agree to put it to
another vote. A three-member panel met September 7 and
proposed that the threshold for a minority language to be
considered an official language in any municipality be
lowered from six percent to five percent and that Turkish be
considered an official language in Prizren, notwithstanding
the fact that the Turkish community there does not meet even
the lowered five percent threshold. The full Assembly voted
on the panel's recommendation on September 14, but rejected
it by a narrow vote of 48 to 41. (The amendment's failure is
disappointing, given that it provided Kosovar authorities a
chance to demonstrate their concern for the needs of a key
ethnic community. It also reflects a stark lack of
discipline within the ruling LDK party, a problem that could
manifest itself when other standards- and settlement-related
legislation is considered by the Assembly.)

REPAIRS IN SVINJARE ON TRACK, ALTHOUGH MORE MONEY NEEDED


6. (C) The government's standards update notes that the PISG
expects to complete repairs to all homes and secondary
buildings in Svinjare, a Serb village in south Mitrovica
burned out in the March 2004 riots, by the end of October
2006, if the Serb property owners cooperate fully. The
update hedges on the settlement of claims for commercial
property, because the government does not think it has
budgeted enough money for their liquidation and
reconstruction in Svinjare. Arifi told us September 6 that
the Kosovo government has under-budgeted for repairs to
Svinjare and is facing a 1.1 million euro shortfall if
payment of 800,000 euros owed to the original contractors who
repaired the houses there in 2005 is included. (NOTE: We
told Arifi that while laudable, payment of amounts deemed
owing to these original contractors is not a Contact Group
priority and must take a back-seat to reconstruction in
Svinjare and reconstruction of or compensation for commercial
property damaged in March 2004. END NOTE).

RENTAL SCHEME STILL NOT UP AND RUNNING


7. (SBU) In its report, the Kosovo government claims that it
has fulfilled both priorities concerning the rental scheme
and the enforcement of pending HPD claims for residential
properties. Arifi told us that representatives from Ceku's
office and the KPA had met August 24 and ironed out the
remaining obstacle (issuance of a memorandum of understanding
from the Ministry of Economy and Finance so that the KPA
could open a local bank account) to starting the rental
scheme for 200 properties on September 1. According to KPA
chief Knut Rosandhaug, the KPA is currently administering
5,301 residential properties, of which 3,463 have been
requested for administration by successful claimants and
1,838 placed under its administration even though their
owners have not yet been identified. He confirmed that an
Administrative Direction is currently with the SRSG awaiting
his signature, and that only after it is signed can the
memorandum of understanding on the financial aspects of the
rental scheme come into force, something outside the control
of the Kosovo government.


8. (SBU) Rosandhaug told us that there are currently 1,710

PRISTINA 00000779 003 OF 004


claims pending implementation, mostly because of appeals to
the initial decisions of the Housing and Property Claims
Commission granting property rights. According to
Rosandhaug, the Commission met in early September and
adjudicated 414 appeals; the parties in these cases are
currently being notified of these decisions, which should be
implemented within the next four to six weeks. He added that
the Commission hopes to adjudicate 400-500 of the remaining
1300 cases during the second week of October and that
additional sessions to review appeals are planned for
November and December. He noted that the KPA is very pleased
with its overall cooperation with the Kosovo Police Service
(KPS) and UNMIK police and confirmed that none of the cases
pending implementation are due to a lack of cooperation by
law enforcement. Hopkinson also told us that UNMIK is
satisfied with the KPS's new standard operating procedures
governing police actions for evictions and preventing
re-occupations announced at the September 7 Standards'
working group on Property Rights.

A HANDFUL OF MARCH 2004 RIOT CASES REMAIN


9. (SBU) According to the government update, the Ministry of
Justice is working closely with UNMIK to prepare a draft law
on the protection of witnesses which the Kosovo government
believes will encourage witnesses to cooperate with
authorities to complete all outstanding investigations and
pending prosecutions from the March 2004 riots. The report
notes that local courts have handled cases against 513
persons and international prosecutors and judges were
responsible for 56 of the most serious cases. Of the 513
cases handled by locals, 423 individuals were convicted, 8
were acquitted, charges were dropped against 19 and cases are
still pending against 63 persons. Of the 56 cases handled by
internationals, cases could not be developed in 11 due to a
lack of evidence, 13 cases resulted in the conviction of 26
persons, 14 cases were dismissed for lack of evidence, six
cases were given over to local prosecutors and 11 are still
pending. On August 25, an international judge ordered the
detention of four defendants suspected of involvement in the
burning of numerous buildings in Fushe Kosovo (Kosovo Polje)
during the March 2004 riots.

COURT LIAISON OFFICES AND POLICE SUBSTATIONS A MOVING TARGET


10. (SBU) The update notes that 11 court liaison offices have
been established and are operational and that the UNMIK
Police Commissioner and the PISG Minister of Interior have
signed a letter of commitment to establish 17 sub-municipal
police stations which are to be fully operational by the end
of 2006. According to the report, ten have already been
established and are operational, while four -- in Donja
Gusterica, Suvi Grlo, Svinjare and Velika Hoca -- have been
established, but are not yet operational. On September 8,
Serbs in the return village of Srbski Babush in Ferizaj
municipality told newly arrived COMKFOR German General Roland
Kather that they too want a police substation composed of
both ethnic Albanian and ethnic Serb policemen to increase
their sense of security.

COMMENT


11. (C) The Kosovo government has, on balance, made a focused
effort to fulfill the CG's 13 priorities for Standards
implementation over the last three months. Two key
confidence-building standards relating to occupied
residential properties remain unfinished, though blame for
this is appropriately levied not just on the PISG but on the
international-dominated KPA and its sluggish approach to
implementation. Passage of important standards legislation
will also remain a problem until such time as the leadership
in the Democratic League of Kosovo can discipline its
membership in the Kosovo Assembly. Despite our exhortations
to keep their eyes on standards fulfillment as an vital
consideration in the status determination process, we
anticipate that standards implementation will get harder, not
easier, as Kosovar authorities are forced to make

PRISTINA 00000779 004 OF 004


increasingly difficult choices. We will continue to press
the government and Assembly to finish the remaining work on
the CG's priorities as well as demand timely cooperation from
the KPA, UNMIK and other international players. END COMMENT.


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