KOSOVO: DAS DICARLO AND EU REP LEHNE BRIEF ON ICO,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 PRISTINA 000808

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: DAS DICARLO AND EU REP LEHNE BRIEF ON ICO,
REITERATE NEED FOR UNITY


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1. (C) SUMMARY: In Pristina September 12-14, EUR DAS Rosemary
DiCarlo and EU rep Stefan Lehne briefed Kosovo Albanian and
Serb leaders on the International Civilian Office (ICO) that
will be established to supervise implementation of the status
settlement. DiCarlo and Lehne underscored that planning for
the ICO in no way prejudges the status outcome, but that
prudent planning dictates early discussion of the ICO's
mandate and authorities. The two also stressed that the ICO
would have limited executive powers and would not have the
same character or scope as the OHR structure in Bosnia.
Meeting with Unity Team (UT) members, DiCarlo and Lehne also
pressed for ongoing unity during the next critical phase of
the status process and even after status is determined. They
also pressed for keeping the focus on Standards and urged the
leaders to mount a public affairs campaign to prepare the
Kosovo people for the compromises required to complete the
status process (e.g., on decentralization). DiCarlo and
Lehne made clear that Kosovo would be expected to embrace
fully whatever package of proposed arrangements UN Special
Envoy Ahtissari eventually presents to them. In a meeting
with Kosovo Assembly caucus leaders, DiCarlo and Lehne
insisted on the need to enforce party discipline to ensure
the Assembly passes whatever implementing legislation is
needed for the status package. Later, in a private
discussion with the Unity Team, DiCarlo pressed harder on the
theme of unity and chastised the leaders for failing to pass
a Turkish language amendment to the Law on Languages (a
Standards priority). She discouraged useless Kosovar
speculation on legal scenarios for concluding the status
process, saying UT members must focus instead on those things
for which they are primarily responsible: the Standards and
preparing the public for the next stages in the status
process. UT leaders took this on board, but comments from
opposition leader Hashim Thaci suggested that he continues to
view the status process and the period beyond through the
prism of his own personal ambitions.


2. (C) Summary, cont. DiCarlo and Lehne reassured Serb
mayors in northern Kosovo that the international civilian and
military presence in Kosovo post-status would protect the
security of Kosovo Serbs and enforce implementation of
decentralization provisions. They urged Serb officials to
avoid isolating themselves through a counterproductive cutoff
of relations with the international community after the
status decision. Serb leaders, as expected, deemed
independence unacceptable, but spoke at length about the
economic/security concerns of their constituents and welcomed
continued international involvement. DAS DiCarlo emphasized
USG commitment to assist the Serb north and, after the
meeting, inaugurated a USAID road improvement project with
the mayor of Zvecan. DiCarlo and Lehne discussed security
with new COMKFOR LTG Kather, who was confident KFOR could
handle contingencies in the north. At a private meeting,
SRSG Ruecker told DiCarlo he would carry forward her message
to the Unity Team and the Prime Minister on the need to pay
greater attention to their responsibilities regarding
Standards. END SUMMARY.

ICO and Prudent Planning


3. (C) EUR DAS Rosemary DiCarlo and EU/Solana
representative Stefan Lehne, in Pristina September 12-14,
held joint meetings with key Kosovo Albanian leaders,
including President Sejdiu, members of the Unity Team, and
Assembly caucus leaders. During an initial meeting with UT
members, DiCarlo and Lehne, along with UNMIK DSRSG Schook,
briefed the Unity Team on the tentative shape of the
International Civilian Office (ICO) which will be
established, per Contact Group directive, to supervise
implementation of the status settlement. DiCarlo noted that
planning for the ICO did not in any way prejudge the status
outcome, but rather was prudent planning.


4. (C) DiCarlo and Lehne explained that the ICO, most likely
led by the EU with an American principal deputy, would not
have the extensive authority of UNMIK, nor would it
administer Kosovo along the model of Bosnia's Office of the

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High Representative; rather, the ICO's executive powers would
relate solely to settlement implementation, with a subsidiary
EU-led Rule of Law mission retaining some executive
authorities in areas of law enforcement and the judiciary.
President Sejdiu, speaking for the UT members, said the ICO
and the continued presence of KFOR would be welcomed by the
citizens of Kosovo, and that he had recently written a letter
to Kosovo's international partners to this effect. UT
Coordinator Blerim Shala asked about the ICO's role in the
divided city of Mitrovica and was told by Lehne that this had
not yet been fully determined. At the conclusion of the
meeting, Lehne asked that the UT designate a technical team
that could start work, in tandem with the EU and UNMIK, on
key post-UNMIK transition issues as soon as the end of
September. Kosovo Albanian leaders promised to do this,
under the leadership of President Sejdiu.

Message to K Albanians: Unity, Flexibility, Education,
Acceptance


5. (C) At a subsequent private meeting with the Unity Team,
DAS DiCarlo stressed the need for "absolute unity" both
before and after the conclusion of final status negotiations;
for continued flexibility in negotiations; for a public
education campaign that combats extremist speculation,
especially on the crucial issue of decentralization; and for
discipline on the part of parties and the political elite to
accept fully the final settlement package presented by UN
Special Envoy Ahtisaari. DiCarlo reiterated the USG's
commitment to conclude final status negotiations by the end
of the year, circumstances permitting, but noted that the UT
and the PISG had much to do to convince the international
community of its seriousness.


6. (C) DiCarlo said that the status process is at a critical
stage and stressed that the UT would not only need to accept,
but to embrace the final package as eventually finalized by
Ahtisaari. She urged these leaders to end unhelpful
speculation on endgame status scenarios and focus instead on
the work for which they were primarily responsible (NOTE:
Speculation and rumors -- most of them not wholly accurate --
are rampant in Pristina about endgame legal scenarios, in
particular the precise content of a concluding UN Security
Council Resolution. END NOTE.) She also made it crystal
clear, in response to Thaci's unsubtle suggestion that unity
within the team might hinge on formation of a broad unity
government with his prominent participation, that the U.S.
would not brook holding the UT hostage to a reshuffling of
government arrangements. DiCarlo then asked that the UT
develop a media strategy in the next two weeks that would
educate the Kosovar public on decentralization and other
issues that will be in the final status package; UT leaders
agreed to do so. Both DiCarlo and COM expressed
disappointment that passage of a Turkish language amendment
to the Law on Languages had failed that day in the Assembly,
due to infighting within the ruling LDK party. That was
exactly the wrong message, they argued, to send to the
international community given the overwhelming importance of
demonstrating sensitivity to the concerns of ethnic
minorities.


7. (C) President Sejdiu pledged continued unity among the
team. Thaci agreed, noting that he had met with his party's
branch leaders the day before and all had extended full
support to the process, including the decentralization
proposals. That said, Thaci criticized the Kosovo government
for corruption and saw "no obligation" to remain on the team
after a passage of a new resolution on Kosovo at the UN
Security Council. On the Turkish language amendment, Sejdiu
and Assembly Speaker Berisha both regretted its failure,
while Thaci and ORA leader Veton Surroi criticized the LDK,
although not Sejdiu and Berisha personally, for not providing
more support. (Note: At a meeting the day previous with the
four Albanian party caucus leaders in the Assembly, both
DiCarlo and COM emphasized the importance of the Assembly
role in the coming months, as the final settlement package
will require quick and disciplined action on implementing

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legislation. DiCarlo and COM also mentioned specifically the
importance of the Turkish amendment and urged its passage, a
message that went unheeded by the LDK leadership in the
Assembly the next day. End Note.)

Message of Reassurance To/Encouraging Message from Kosovo
Serbs


8. (C) Meeting with Kosovo Serb leaders in Pristina and
with two Serb mayors in Zvecan, a majority Serb municipality
in northern Kosovo, DiCarlo and Lehne reassured them of the
international community's commitment to maintain Kosovo's
multi-ethnic character. Lehne noted that the Vienna
technical talks dealt "90-95 percent" with the interests of
the Serb community in Kosovo, particularly on
decentralization, while DiCarlo indicated that the continued
international civilian/military presence in the north would
ensure that Serb rights are protected. She urged them,
whatever the final status outcome, not to isolate themselves
from the international community.


9. (C) Serb leaders voiced the expected rejection of
independence, but, encouragingly, focused more on the
everyday concerns of Kosovo Serbs. Moderate leader Oliver
Ivanovic discussed the need to prevent violence against Serbs
and argued that only the U.S. was credible enough to take the
lead on this. Zvecan Mayor Milovic launched into his
municipality's problems -- 4,000 IDPs expelled after 1999 and
during the March 2004 riots, damaged infrastructure, lack of
jobs -- and insisted he could not solve them without
international support. Milovic's colleague, the mayor of
Zubin Potok, was more emphatic on final status, arguing that
Serbs would never accept the new institutions of an
independent Kosovo. But even if this came about, he said, he
did not favor "deserting" Kosovo or using violent means to
oppose it. Both mayors thanked the USG for financing
projects in their respective municipalities. (Note: After
the Zvecan meeting, DiCarlo inaugurated a USAID-funded road
improvement project and visited a local library that will be
expanded to twice its size through USG funding, two in a
series of projects that will get underway in September and
October in all three northern municipalities and north
Mitrovica.)

KFOR Commander Confident


10. (C) At a lunch hosted by new KFOR Commander LTG Roland
Kather (Germany) in honor of DiCarlo and Lehne, Kather
expressed his confidence in KFOR's ability to deal with
contingencies, particularly in the north, and noted that he
would soon be making his first trip up to that sector.
Kather discussed the need to raise the standards of the
Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC),particularly at the senior
officer level, but was aware of the political sensitivities
of discussing a future Kosovo security force. He promised to
consult closely with his "political masters" on this and
other sensitive issues.

SRSG Ruecker and PDSRSG Schook: Transition Planning Moving
Forward


11. (C) UNMIK SRSG Ruecker described for DAS DiCarlo his
recent appearance at the UN Security Council session
reporting on progress in Kosovo, where Prime Minister Ceku
had also been in attendance. Ruecker and PDSRSG Schook were
generally upbeat on the post-status transition planning, with
Schook noting that a structure had been put in place within
UNMIK to guide the process forward. He promised detailed
plans within two weeks. (Note: In a joint DiCarlo/Lehne
discussion with OSCE head Werner Wnendt, Wnendt also promised
full cooperation at an operational level with the incipient
International Civilian Office, pointing to a variety of areas
where OSCE expertise could continue to be helpful.) Ruecker
agreed with DAS DiCarlo that Kosovars needed to get out of
the business of speculation on status scenarios and turn
their attention fully to the tasks at hand, and promised to
carry that same message to the Unity Team and PM Ceku.

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Ruecker, and particularly Schook, evinced some frustration
with Ceku's tendency to travel abroad rather than focus on
his standards-related responsibilities or use his personal
popularity to sell the decentralization package to the
Kosovar public.


12. (C) COMMENT: DAS DiCarlo's visit afforded the chance
to deliver just the pointed message that the Kosovar
leadership needs to absorb: they were encouraged to learn
that USG determination to proceed with the status process
remains unchanged, but they were chastened to hear that we
expect them to move immediately to combat public criticism of
decentralization and better prepare their public for the many
compromises that will be contained in the final status
package. We will use the positive momentum generated by DAS
DiCarlo's meetings to intensify outreach to the Serb
community and to escalate pressure on the Albanian leadership
to demonstrate leadership in this next critical phase of the
status process. End comment.


13. (U) DAS DiCarlo has cleared on this message.


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