KOSOVO'S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000187 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE NSC FOR BRAUN USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI S/WE SASHA MEHRA, GERDA LANE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KDEM PGOV PINR PREL YI UNMIK PHUM SOCI KWMN SUBJECT: KOSOVO'S MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN REF: A. STATE 202341 ¶B. PRISTINA 169 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY ¶1. (SBU) Post has identified the five most influential women in the Kosovo, per Ref A, as well as three Kosovo women who are influential among their respective minority communities. Political officer Heidi Barrachina is POC for women's issues at post: (381) 38-549-516 x3104; barrachinahh@state.gov. FIVE MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN KOSOVO ¶2. (SBU) The five most influential women in Kosovo: Name: Flaka Surroi Title and Institution: President of the Koha Group, which publishes Kosovo's highest circulation daily newspaper "Koha Ditore." Background: In the 90's she served as an activist with the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms, then later contributed to postwar reconstruction as head of one of Kosovo's most successful NGOs - the Kosovo Community Fund. Contact Information: Email: flaka@koha.net. Address: Sheshi Nene Tereza No. 31 A; 10 000 Pristina, Kosovo. Tel: (381) 38-249-104; (381) 38-243-875. Mobile: (377) 44-506-426. Name: Jeta Xharra Title and Institution: Kosovo Director of the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN) and moderator of the popular weekly television debate program "Jeta ne Kosove" (Life in Kosovo). Background: Xharra was a youth activist before the 1999 war, and then went on to become a journalist with Koha Ditore and then the BBC. She later completed a masters degree in the UK. Contact Information: Email: jeta@birn.eu.com. Web: http://kosovo.birn.eu.com. Address: Sheshi Nena Tereze 22B No. 6; 10 000 Pristina, Kosovo. Tel/fax: (381) 38-228-168. Mobile: (377) 44-135-209. Name: Pranvera Dobruna Title and Institution: Managing Director of the Kosovo Energy Corporation (KEK),the largest public utility in (and possibly the largest publicly-owned enterprise) in Kosovo. Background: Energy is major political, economic and development issue in Kosovo, and Dobruna is directly involved and influential in all aspects of energy policy, including the unbundling of the energy sector and the possible privatization of Kosovo's largest state-owned enterprise. Contact Information: Email: pranvera.dobruna@kek-energy.com. Address: Mother Theresa Street, No. 36; Toscana Building; 10 000 Pristina, Kosovo. Telephone: (381) 38-228-684. Mobile: (377) 44-505-895. Name: Major General Atifete Jahjaga Title and Institution: Assistant Commissioner for the Border Security and Boundary Police section of the Kosovo Police Service (KPS). Background: A key leader in the KPS, Jahjaga has worked tirelessly to promote the democratization of the police force. She was the first Kosovo woman to become an a Lieutenant General and then Assistant Commissioner; and the first KPS officer to be accepted to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. Contact Information: Email: atifetejahjaga@gmail.com. Address: Luan Haradinaj Street, 10 000 Pristina, Kosovo. Telephone: (381) 38-50-80-1060. Mobile: (377) 44-505-222. Name: Mimoza Kusari Title and Institution: Executive Director of Kosovo's American Chamber of Commerce. Background: Seen as the voice of the Kosovo business community, Kusari has had a direct influence on the government's economic and foreign investment policies. Contact Information: Email: mimoza.kusari@amchamksv.org. PRISTINA 00000187 002 OF 002 Address: Gustav Major Street, No. 6; 10 000 Pristina, Kosovo. Telephone: (381) 38-246-012. Mobile: (377) 44-540-018. INFLUENTIAL WOMEN AMONG KOSOVO'S MINORITY COMMUNITIES ¶3. (SBU) Given the complex and sensitive inter-ethnic situation in Kosovo, post would like to add the following as influential women from among Kosovo's minority communities. Name: Vesna Jovanovic Title and Institution: Member of the Kosovo Assembly and of the moderate Serbian List for Kosovo and Metohija (SLKM). Background: A proactive and moderate Kosovo Serb politician who has successfully advocated for her community of Partes to become a new Serb-majority municipality, and who is closely involved in the attempts to establish a new moderate Kosovo Serb Assembly that seeks greater engagement with Kosovo institutions, the international community and with the majority Kosovo Albanian population (Ref B). Contact Information: Email: vesnajovanovic 722004@yahoo.com. Address: Partes village, Gnjilane municipality, Kosovo. Telephone: (377) 44-248-056; (381) 63-8751-751. Name: Nadira Avdic-Vllasi Title and Institution: Editor-in-Chief of the Bosnian language programming section of the public broadcaster Radio Television Kosovo (RTK); editor in chief of Bosnian language Alem magazine. Background: In addition to her role with minority media, Avdic-Vllasi is one of the organizers of the Kosovo Bosniak Forum, a civil society organization that enables Bosniaks to engage on political issues that will affect them. Contact Information: Email: navllasi@yahoo.com. Address: Hajdar Dushi 1A No. 9; 10 000 Pristina, Kosovo. Telephone: (381) 38 2409 669. Mobile: (377) 44 185 100. Name: Hiljmnijeta Apuk Title and Institution: Director and founder of the NGO "Little People of Kosovo," representing the disabled. District Financial Officer, Kosovo ministry of health. Editor in Chief of the Kosovo newspaper for persons with disabilities. Background: Represented Kosovo at the UN General Assembly's International Convention on Protection and Promotion of the Rights and Dignities of persons with disabilities in 2006. Longtime activist supporting rights for the disabled, both in Kosovo and in the former Yugoslavia. Contact Information: Email: hiljmnijetaa@yahoo.com. Web: www.lpkosova.com. Telephone: (381) 28-30-814; (381) 28-24-670. Mobile: (377) 44-293-518. ¶4. (U) Post does not clear this message for release to UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari. KAIDANOW