CROATIAN LEADERS WELCOME KOSOVO PM CEKU, STRESS

C O N F I D E N T I A L ZAGREB 001451

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2016
TAGS: PREL HR YI
SUBJECT: CROATIAN LEADERS WELCOME KOSOVO PM CEKU, STRESS
MINORITY PROTECTION ISSUES


Classified By: Amb Robert Bradtke for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) Following up on his October commitment to President
Bush to promote regional stability in the run-up to the
Kosovo final status determination, PM Sanader met Kosovo PM
Ceku in Zagreb December 1. MFA State Secretary Biscevic told
Ambassador December 4 that the GOC and President Mesic
emphasized with Ceku the importance of establishing concrete
protections for minorities. Biscevic noted that Ceku
identified the peaceful post-war reintegration of Eastern
Slavonia (formerly held by rebel Serbs) as a valuable model
for Kosovo, and told the PM that he sees Croatia as the best
regional advocate for Kosovo. Sanader offered to receive a
minority delegation from Kosovo, which Biscevic said the
ethnic-Serb Kosovo Minister for Refugee Affairs would
coordinate. The GOC also offered to provide technical
assistance in building administrative capacity at the local
level, and to accept Kosovo diplomats at the Croatian
diplomatic academy. Arriving in Zagreb from Moscow, Ceku
told the GOC that he did not think Russia would oppose
Kosovo's independence.


2. (C) COMMENT: His willingness to receive Ceku (and go
public with the basic points of the meetings) underscores
Sanader's desire to contribute to regional stability in the
run-up to Kosovo's final status decision. With Croatia's
treatment of its own ethnic Serb minority under scrutiny in
connection with its EU and NATO aspirations, Sanader is all
too aware of the sensitivity of the issue and its potential
for exploitation by Belgrade.
BRADTKE