KOSOVO STATUS: SERBS AND KOSOVARS DRAW REDLINES ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENNA 000893

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR EUR/SCE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM SR YI AU UNMIK
SUBJECT: KOSOVO STATUS: SERBS AND KOSOVARS DRAW REDLINES ON
DECENTRALIZATION, STATUS ISSUESA

REF: A. VIENNA 870


B. HOVENIER E-MAIL TO EUR/SCE ON 3/23/06 - 1

C. HOVENIER E-MAIL TO EUR/SCE ON 3/23/06 - 2

THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED. PLEASE HANDLE
ACCORDINGLY.


1. (U) The following is information gathered by the US
liaison officer to the UN Office of the Special Envoy for
Kosovo negotiations (UNOSEK) in Vienna.

SUMMARY
--------------


2. (SBU) In a March 17 meeting, top Serbian negotiators
acknowledged to UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari that
Kosovo's "separation from Serbia" is a possible outcome of
negotiations, but made clear Belgrade would not be party to
this and refused to discuss how to manage the process to
ensure Belgrade's buy-in on non-status issues. They also
urged Ahtisaari to launch direct talks on status by the
summer. Kosovo Prime Minister Ceku pledged dramatic progress
soon on standards implementation, but warned Ahtisaari that
Pristina could not accept any Belgrade authority in
Serb-majority areas, a separate Serb entity or "third-layer
of government", or anything less than a Kosovo army. Aside
from a pair of already-planned face-to-face talks on
decentralization, municipal delimitation, and Mitrovica in
early and mid-April, UNOSEK anticipates expert-level talks on
minority rights and protections and on religious sites and
cultural heritage issues in April. End Summary.

AHTISAARI MEETING WITH LEADING SERBIAN NEGOTIATORS
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3. (SBU) Following the second round of talks on
decentralization in Vienna on March 17 (ref A),UN Special
Envoy for Kosovo final status talks Martti Ahtisaari and his
deputy Albert Rohan held a dinner with Serbian delegation
heads Slobodan Samardzic and Leon Kojen. Samardzic and Kojen
reluctantly acknowledged that Kosovo's "separation from
Serbia" is a possible outcome of the status process, but made
clear that their bosses, Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica and
Serbian President Tadic, would not be party to such an
outcome under any circumstances. They declined to engage in
any discussions about how to manage the process to ensure
Belgrade's buy-in to key issues even if Serbian leaders
refused to agree to Kosovo's independence. They stressed that
Belgrade expected Ahtisaari to lead "formal talks on Kosovo's
status" between the parties in the near future, implying a
desire to launch this process by the summer. (Note: Ahtisaari
later expressed private disappointment that Belgrade's
display of greater realism about the outcome of the final
status process following the delivery of firm private
messages by Contact Group countries has had little
operational effect thus far. End note.) Samardzic and Kojen
also expressed concern about the recent "militarization" of
Kosovo's leadership, a reference to the election of new
Kosovo Prime Minister Ceku and former Prime Minister
Haradinaj's formal reentry into Kosovar politics.

AHTISAARI MEETING WITH KOSOVO PM CEKU
--------------


4. (SBU) Ceku stopped in Vienna enroute to Brussels for a
March 20 dinner with Ahtisaari. Ahtisaari emphasized to Ceku
that UNMIK will soon prepare another of its periodic reports
on standards implementation, and Kosovo cannot afford a
report that reflects anything less than dramatic progress on
standards. Ceku made clear he is committed to ensuring such
progress and complete cooperation between Pristina and
UNOSEK.


5. (SBU) Ceku laid out three main Kosovar redlines on
decentralization: (1) no authority from Belgrade in
Serb-majority areas; (2) no separate Serb entity in Kosovo;
and (3) no third-layer of government. Ceku, former commander
of the Kosovo Protection Corps, also expressed a
strongly-held view that a post-status Kosovo must have an
army. Citing proposals to limit Kosovo's security force to
some type of gendarmerie, Ceku said that the Kosovo Albanian
public and Serbia would view such a force as "little more
than a police force," and argued that such a force could not
guarantee Kosovo's security. He also stressed that an
independent Kosovo would want to participate in global peace
support operations, which necessitated an army.

OTHER AHTISAARI MEETINGS
--------------


6. (SBU) In a March 18 meeting in Vienna, Ukrainian Foreign
Minister Tarasyuk told Ahtisaari that Kiev is very concerned
that Kosovo could set a precedent that supports separatist
tendencies in Nagorno-Karabahk, Transdnistria, South Ossetia,
or Abkhazia. Ahtisaari responded that his mandate is limited
to Kosovo and that Kosovo should be seen as a unique case.
Ahtisaari is scheduled to be part of the official Finnish
delegation to the funeral of former Estonian President
Lennart Meri on March 26 and then address a special session
of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on March 28.

UPDATE ON VARIOUS NEGOTIATING TRACKS
--------------


7. (SBU) As noted ref A, UNOSEK will submit to the Serbian
and Kosovar negotiating teams during the week of March 27 a
paper of decentralization principles highlighting areas of
agreement and UNOSEK's proposed next steps in addressing key
areas of disagreement. This paper and the parties' responses
will pave the way for the third round of face-to-face talks
in Vienna on April 3 and a mid-April meeting to discuss
municipal delimitation and Mitrovica. Deputy Special Envoy
Rohan will travel to Pristina March 28-30 for preparatory
discussions with the Kosovars. Meanwhile, the Greek NGO
ELIAMEP has provided UNOSEK a revised concept paper of the
possible implementation in Kosovo of the Mount Athos model
(ref B),but Pristina has yet to provide an updated position
paper on the religious sites/cultural heritage issue promised
by March 17. UNOSEK staffers visited Pristina and Belgrade
the week of 20 March to consult on next steps, with an eye to
face-to-face talks by the end of April.


8. (SBU) UNOSEK )- in consultation with the OSCE High
Commissioner on National Minorities, the Council of Europe,
and the USG )- has sent Pristina guidance on areas where it
seeks further elaboration of Pristina's response to its
questionnaire on minority rights and protection issues (ref
C). Kosovar authorities have organized a retreat on minority
issues for March 25-26 with the participation of all of
Kosovo's minority communities, including Kosovo Serbs, and
members of Kosovo's Political Group will participate in a
seminar in Oxford to help them prepare detailed position
papers on these issues. UNOSEK is working on a proposed
agenda that both sides agree can be discussed in expert-level
talks in April. Meanwhile, the U.S. liaison officer to UNOSEK
and team leader on the minority rights and protections met
with UNHCR officials in Geneva on March 20, and UNHCR has
pledged to provide UNOSEK with a list of key returns issues
that will likely form the basis for discussions between the
parties on returns-related principles.
McCaw