UZBEKISTAN HAVING ITS WAY WITH THE OSCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TASHKENT 001739

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SCA/CEN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/11/2016
TAGS: PGOV PREL OSEC UZ
SUBJECT: UZBEKISTAN HAVING ITS WAY WITH THE OSCE


Classified By: CLASSIFIED BY AMB JON R. PURNELL FOR REASONS 1.4 (B, D).


1. (C) Summary: Two contacts at the OSCE's Tashkent Project
Coordinator's Office (PCO) told poloff OSCE Ambassador Jenca
is working closely with the MFA to restructure the PCO. The
MFA reportedly will select two local OSCE staff to replace
four who will lose their jobs in October. Jenca also
reportedly instructed the PCO's personnel assistant to focus
on applicants from nations that do not need Uzbek visas to
fill the two expatriate jobs. Jenca told the DCM the MFA had
consented to him remaining as PCO Chief. Jenca said he was
frustrated by the MFA's slow pace in dealing with the PCO,
and that its programs will not start to be implemented until
October, at the earliest. The GOU is working to ensure only
Uzbek sympathizers staff the PCO. End summary.


2. (C) Poloff met with two local employees of the OSCE's
Tashkent PCO to discuss recent developments in its Memorandum
of Understanding (MOU) with the GOU. Poloff's contacts are
program assistants in the Economic and Environmental
Dimensions. The contacts forwarded poloff an email Jenca
sent to OSCE Political-Security Officer Marc Bojanic on
August 8, outlining the proposed new structure of the PCO.
According to the email, the Administrative (technical)
organization remains unchanged. The restructured positions
are:

-- Senior Project Officer, Economic and Environmental
Dimension (currently vacant, although the position has been
advertised for almost one month),staffed by a foreign
national;

-- Senior Project Officer, Democratization and Political
Dimensions, staffed by a foreign national (Note: This
position combines two dimensions, previously separately
staffed. The current Political-Security officer is Marc
Bojanic, whose tenure expired this summer, but who has
reportedly chosen to extend. End note.);

-- Chief Financial Assistant, National Professional Position
staffed by the current staff member;

-- Security and Military Project Officer, National
Professional Position;

-- Legal Adviser Project Officer, National Professional
Position;


3. (C) Amb. Jenca told the DCM on September 5that under the
MOU the OSCE office is allowed three foreign staff (the Head
of the Project Coordinator Office and two others),three
Uzbek professional staff, and technical staff "as needed."
Jenca told the DCM he intends to hire back many of OSCE's
program staff as technical staff to help implement individual
projects, once the projects are agreed upon. Jenca added
that he submitted, several weeks ago, a list of proposed OSCE
projects to the MFA and was still awaiting their comments.
(Note: This is the second time the OSCE has submitted a list
of projects. The MFA returned the list and asked for more
detailed information on each project. The OSCE did not
submit all proposed projects it is considering, however, for
the six-month term. End note.) Jenca confirmed that the GOU
had agreed he could remain as PCO Head. Jenca expressed
frustration over the GOU's slow pace of dealing with the new
PCO, noting its mandate expires in less than four months, the
end of the calendar year. He predicted the PCO and MFA would
not reach agreement on projects and staffing until October,
leaving less than three months for implementation before the
entire question of the mandate would be revisited.


4. (C) The two contacts told poloff that on September 4 Jenca
unexpectedly terminated all four program staff (two economic
dimension, one human dimension, one political dimension),
giving them one month's notice. Until then, Jenca had
reportedly told the staff he would protect their jobs. The
staff has not been given any written guarantee that they
might be hired back as program staff. The extrabudgetary
program staff are still waiting to see what will happen to
their positions.


5. (C) Jenca reportedly agreed to let the MFA select the
staff of the National Professional Positions in exchange for
its acceptance of the proposed PCO structure. At a staff
meeting Jenca, according to our contacts, instructed the

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personnel assistant to focus on applicants for Senior Project
Officer positions, i.e. the two expatriate positions, who do
not need an Uzbek visa. (Note: OSCE rules state citizens of
neighboring countries may not work at the OSCE Mission. The
countries that do not require a visa for Uzbekistan are:
Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine and
Russia. End note.)


6. (C) Comment: Jenca is walking a fine line in working out
modalities with the GOU to keep an OSCE office open (and his
position) while retaining a degree of independence. It
appears the GOU is taking advantage of the MOU and trying to
ensure that pro-GOU blood is injected into the PCO.
Employees who have worked at the Mission for many years
reportedly are going to be replaced with staff acceptable to
the GOU. If this is true, then the GOU will not only have
influence over what projects the OSCE implements, but how
they are implemented. Moreover, the GOU will likely have
greater access to internal workings, giving it greater
insight into the OSCE's relations with Western nations.
PURNELL