Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06PRISTINA924
2006-11-03 14:52:00
CONFIDENTIAL//NOFORN
Embassy Pristina
Cable title:  

KOSOVO: KOSOVO SERB PROPOSES ALL-SERB ASSEMBLY,

Tags:  PREL KCRM PGOV PINR KDEM PREF UNMIK YI 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO9021
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHPS #0924/01 3071452
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 031452Z NOV 06
FM USOFFICE PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6651
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0897
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 000924 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2016
TAGS: PREL KCRM PGOV PINR KDEM PREF UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: KOSOVO SERB PROPOSES ALL-SERB ASSEMBLY,
PM CEKU QUIETLY PURSUING SIMILAR IDEA

REF: ZAGREB 01307

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 000924

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2016
TAGS: PREL KCRM PGOV PINR KDEM PREF UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: KOSOVO SERB PROPOSES ALL-SERB ASSEMBLY,
PM CEKU QUIETLY PURSUING SIMILAR IDEA

REF: ZAGREB 01307

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


1. (C) SUMMARY. Apart from his work as owner and director
of TV Mir, former Kosovo Serb politician Nenad Radosavljevic
has suggested several mechanisms that he says will ensure
that Kosovo Serbs can effectively participate in post-status
institutions. In a recent meeting with USOP, he proposed the
establishment of a Kosovo-wide Serb assembly immediately
after status is declared, which would then propose candidates
for a "communities house" in a new bicameral Kosovo Assembly.
While Radosavljevic has shopped this idea around for some
time now, with little traction here or in Belgrade, it bears
resemblance to an all-Kosovo Serb Congress, tentatively
scheduled for December, that PM Ceku is discreetly backing
via his Croatian Serb adviser, Milorad Pupovac. We
encouraged Radosavljevic to meet with PM Ceku to discuss his
ideas, and he agreed to do so. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) Kosovo Serb owner and director of Leposavic-based
TV Mir Nenad Radosavljevic recently approached USOP seeking a
Democracy Commission Grant to produce a series of interactive
television interviews (with audience participation) for
broadcast throughout Kosovo. Although he is no longer
politically active, Radosavljevic previously served as the
UNMIK-appointed mayor of the northern Serb-majority
municipality of Leposavic in 2001, and then as an adviser to
SRSG Steiner on returns and as elected member of the Kosovo
Assembly from 2001-2004. At that time, he was a member of
the Return (Povratak) Coalition, the remnants of which live
on today in Oliver Ivanovic's Serbian List for Kosovo and
Metohija (SLKM). Like most Kosovo Serb politicians who
participated in Povratak and joined the assembly in 2001,
Radosavljevic told us that they were not taken seriously and

were unable to effectively represent Kosovo Serbs. As a
result, he said he decided to leave politics.


3. (SBU) Radosavljevic said that Kosovo Serbs will stay in
Kosovo, and added that they just want their properties back
and to live their lives as ordinary people. He predicted
that nothing will change for Serbs after status, and said
that he is willing to participate in building a new
multi-ethnic society, if the international community will
have the courage to do what it takes to restore rule of law
in Kosovo. Radosavljevic asserted that internally displaced
persons (IDPs) could be brought back quickly if all of the
money earmarked for returns would be spent on reconstructing
homes (instead of roundtable discussions and go-and-see
visits). (NOTE. Some reconstructed Serb homes in Svinjare
and elsewhere continue to remain uninhabited, since the IDP
owners say they are afraid to return or have found better
living conditions elsewhere. UNMIK Civilian Police (CIVPOL)
recently arrested a returns ministry contractor for
corruption and bribery, including accepting payments for
construction projects he never built and then using most of
those funds to pay huge bribes back to a returns ministry
official in order to get more such "contracts." END NOTE.)


4. (SBU) Radosavljevic also criticized Kosovo Serbs for not
organizing themselves more effectively in order to ensure the
conditions for their survival. He said this should start
with the creation of a Kosovo-wide assembly of Serbs
immediately after status is announced, which would unite all
segments of the Kosovo Serb political spectrum, from
moderates like the SLKM (which he claims has no popular
support) to hard-liners, such as E.O.-listees Marko Jaksic
and Milan Ivanovic (who he says derive their power
exclusively from Belgrade). Radosavljevic proposes the
assembly have 200 members, including all elected Kosovo Serb
officials, all local representatives of the Belgrade-based
Kosovo Coordination Center (CCK),as well as representatives
from the parallel Belgrade-run university in northern
Mitrovica, the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC),IDP and missing
persons organizations, and civil society.

PRISTINA 00000924 002 OF 002




5. (SBU) Based on his own previous experience in the Kosovo
Assembly, Radosavljevic believes that after status Kosovo
should establish a bicameral legislature with two houses. He
said the first house would consist of elected assembly
members based on population, while the second would contain
representatives of Kosovo's minority communities. (NOTE.
Unlike most Kosovo Serbs, he did not hesitate to use the word
minority to refer to Serbs in Kosovo. END NOTE) Pol/Econ
Chief mentioned that the status document currently being
developed by Ahtisaari will contain mechanisms to ensure that
Kosovo Serb voices will be heard in Kosovo institutions, if
not in this precise formulation.


6. (C) COMMENT. Radosavljevic first presented his ideas for
a Serb Assembly and a bicameral legislature to us a year ago,
but it has received little traction either here or in
Belgrade. His main focus is running his television station,
not promoting his political proposals. However, the proposal
is not unlike an all-Kosovo Serb Congress currently being
discreetly organized to take place in December by Croatian MP
and informal adviser to PM Ceku, Milorad Pupovac (reftel).
PM Ceku recently told visiting Amb. Wisner that he backs
Pupovac's plan as a way of reaching out to Kosovo Serbs,
though he wanted to maintain a discreet distance in order not
to taint the project. We encouraged Radosavljevic to discuss
his ideas with Ceku, and Radosavljevic agreed to do so. It
is encouraging to hear some alternative ideas from a
prominent Kosovo Serb, and we will follow up to see that
these ideas get consideration. END COMMENT.


7. (U) Post clears this message in its entirety for release
to Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari.
KAIDANOW