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