Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06PRISTINA842
2006-10-04 18:32:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Pristina
Cable title:  

KOSOVO: COM TELLS GJILAN OFFICIALS TO END THE

Tags:  PGOV PREL KCRM KDEM UNMIK YI 
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O 041832Z OCT 06
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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6571
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0865
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHFMISS/AFSOUTH NAPLES IT
RHMFISS/CDR TF FALCON
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEPGEA/CDR650THMIGP SHAPE BE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUFOANA/USNIC PRISTINA SR
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000842 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/04/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCRM KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: COM TELLS GJILAN OFFICIALS TO END THE
VIOLENCE, ACCEPT DECENTRALIZATION


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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000842

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/04/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCRM KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: COM TELLS GJILAN OFFICIALS TO END THE
VIOLENCE, ACCEPT DECENTRALIZATION


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


1. (C) SUMMARY: COM condemned recent violence and urged
support for decentralization in a meeting with Gjilan
municipal officials from four political parties. She also
delivered a message to the fractious ruling LDK party in
Gjilan to stop its unhelpful (and violent) infighting. The
Albanian leaders responded by saying they reject violence and
oppose ethnically-based decentralization, which they said
would reverse seven years of integration in their
municipality. The sole Serb leader at the meeting said Serbs
generally feel secure in Gjilan, but will only stay if the
new municipalities created through the status process have
substantive powers. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) COM met in the southeastern Kosovo municipality of
Gjilan on October 3 with:

- Xhemajl Hyseni: Mayor and Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK)
Branch President

- Lirije Kajtazi: Deputy Mayor and LDK caucus leader

- Izmi Zeka: Deputy Branch President of the opposition
Democratic Party of Kosovo(PDK)

- Sabedin Kadriu: Branch President of the Alliance for the
Future of Kosovo (AAK)

- Enver Muji: Gjilan CEO

- Bozidar Peric: Deputy Mayor and Serb from the Democratic
Party of Serbia (DSS)


3. (SBU) Gjilan, a stronghold of the ruling LDK, has been
the site of recent car bombings which may have been the
result of infighting in the run-up to selecting a new LDK
party president. Its municipal boundaries will be affected
by decentralization through the proposed creation of
Serb-majority Partesh municipality and an expanded Serb Novo
Brdo. Opponents of the decentralization proposal held a
peaceful protest on September 9, the same day Gjilan's
Municipal Assembly called for the Kosovar negotiating team to
withdraw its Partesh offer.

COM to Gjilan Leaders: No to Violence, Decentralization

Inevitable


4. (C) COM made two points clear at the outset: violence is
unacceptable and counter-productive, and decentralization is
in Kosovo's interests. She said that Kosovo and Gjilan
itself are the focus of international attention, and any
violence, either against minorities or among Albanians, has a
direct negative impact on the status process. The COM
stressed the USG is solidly behind UN Special Envoy
Ahtisaari, the Vienna negotiating process, and, therefore,
decentralization. Kosovo and Gjilan will need to accept the
eventual settlement package and then implement it. She added
that complaints about a package that they have yet to see
only complicate the search for a final status resolution.

Opposition to "Ethnically Based" Decentralization


5. (C) Mayor Hyseni told the COM that everyone in Gjilan is
against violence because it hurts the municipality's image
and threatens the safe environment there. He acknowledged
that Kosovo's status resolution has a price, but was
concerned by the lack of information from the Kosovar
negotiators on the Unity Team. He claimed that Gjilan did
not oppose decentralization per se, but was against the
damage ethnically-based decentralization would inflict on
what he maintained was a tolerant and integrated
municipality. Hyseni said he supported the idea of new,
Serb-majority municipalities, but wanted them to reflect the
multi-ethnic reality of Gjilan, since mono-ethnic
municipalities would not be functional or sustainable.


PRISTINA 00000842 002 OF 002



6. (C) PDK's Zeka echoed Hyseni, arguing that while the party
was not against reform in general, the form of
decentralization proposed in the Vienna negotiations ran
counter to the interests of Kosovo,s development. His
comments were echoed by AAK's Gjilan Branch President Kadriu,
who lamented that the decentralization plan was created
without discussion with the affected municipalities, and
accused the international community of contradicting its own
stated desire for a multi-ethnic society.

Serb Leader Says Gjilan Serbs Will Accept Results


7. (C) Deputy Mayor Peric, the sole Serb leader at the
meeting, said Serbs feel secure living in Gjilan, and that
even though they have not been part of the status
negotiations, they will accept whatever compromise results.
They will stay in Kosovo, he said, if municipalities have
substantive and meaningful authority for important issues
like health and education. Peric noted that the biggest
problem for Serbs is returns, adding that over the past few
months thirty Serb families have left Gjilan.

COM: Stop Infighting


8. (C) COM commended Gjilan's accomplishments in building
ethnic tolerance and inclusion. However, she said, not all
of Kosovo has been as successful, and the settlement reached
in Vienna will need to provide strong guarantees in order to
convince Serbs to remain in Kosovo. She reiterated the need
for the municipalities of Gjilan, Viti, and Lipljan not to
attract negative attention or be seen as obstacles in this
process, and stressed the importance of unity both among and
within parties in support of Kosovo's negotiating team.


9. (C) COMMENT: Aside from the issue of LDK infighting,
there are two problems in Gjilan. The first is that the
Unity Team has not adequately explained the decentralization
process and its importance to a final status agreement. The
second problem is that Gjilan leaders recognize their
municipality will pay the price for a Kosovo-wide solution.
We will continue to advocate in support of decentralization
and -- more importantly -- encourage the Unity Team to do the
same. We will also continue to condemn violence, whether of
the inter-ethnic or intra-party variety.


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