Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07PRISTINA237
2007-03-28 16:09:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Pristina
Cable title:  

KOSOVO: THE NORTH'S ALBANIAN MINORITY WORRIED

Tags:  PGOV KPKO PHUM EAID YI 
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VZCZCXRO7982
PP RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHPS #0237/01 0871609
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 281609Z MAR 07
FM USOFFICE PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7191
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1107
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK PRIORITY
RHFMISS/AFSOUTH NAPLES IT PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR TF FALCON PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEPGEA/CDR650THMIGP SHAPE BE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
RUFOANA/USNIC PRISTINA SR PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000237 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, DRL, INL, AND S/WCI, NSC FOR BRAUN, USUN
FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER, OPDAT FOR
ACKER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2017
TAGS: PGOV KPKO PHUM EAID YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: THE NORTH'S ALBANIAN MINORITY WORRIED
ABOUT JOBS, SCHOOLS AND ROADS ... NOT THEIR SECURITY

REF: PRISTINA 229

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 000237

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, DRL, INL, AND S/WCI, NSC FOR BRAUN, USUN
FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER, OPDAT FOR
ACKER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/28/2017
TAGS: PGOV KPKO PHUM EAID YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: THE NORTH'S ALBANIAN MINORITY WORRIED
ABOUT JOBS, SCHOOLS AND ROADS ... NOT THEIR SECURITY

REF: PRISTINA 229

Classified By: COM Tina Kaidanow for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Albanian residents of two communities north
of Kosovo's Ibar River were highly supportive of the
Ahtisaari proposal and grateful for USG assistance.
Residents told us they generally feel secure in their
villages and in their travels to the southern part of Kosovo.
They have not been affected by the development of parallel
Serbian structures in the three northern municipalities, but
expressed some concerns that this might change -- to the
detriment of Serbs -- given Belgrade's rejection of the
Ahtisaari plan. One community is trying to engage in the
affairs of its Serb-majority municipality; the other is more
reticent. All residents spoke highly of previous USAID
projects and official visitors and were visibly relieved when
we assured them that we understand that northern Kosovo is
not a homogenous area. End Summary.


2. (SBU) On March 27, DPO, DATT and POL/ECON assistant
visited Boletin in Zvecan Municipality and Cabra in Zubin
Potok. In Boletin, we met with representatives of the three
Albanian villages (the other two are Zhazha and Lipa) in the
area and visited the home of 19th century Albanian
nationalist Isa Boletini, which is adjacent to the Serbian
Orthodox Sokolica Monastery. Our host in Cabra was the
father of one of the three young Albanians whose accidental
drowning in March 2004 set off Kosovo-wide anti-Serb violence.

Boletin: Isolated, but Peaceful


3. (SBU) Boletin is a farming community nestled in the
mountains east of Zvecan. The total population of the three
villages in the area is some 1,200 Albanians. All three
villages were badly damaged by Serb forces in 1999,
destruction that included the demolition of some of Kosovo's
last surviving examples of traditional Albanian kullas (stone
dwellings). Although Boletin is part of Zvecan municipality,

its residents have not taken up their two seats in the
Municipal Assembly nor their reserved position as one of the
Deputy Mayors. The reason is complex; the three villages
have historically disputed their inclusion in Zvecan and did
not participate in the most recent elections.


4. (SBU) Because Zvecan only recently submitted its
municipal budget to the PISG (reftel),the staff at the local
primary school have not been paid since the beginning of the
year. As Albanians within a Serb-majority municipality,
their public servants are not paid by the parallel Belgrade
administration; salaries depend on Pristina. Residents said
that they have minimal contact with Serbs, whose closest
village is on the far side of a valley, and are generally
satisfied with their security. They noted however, that the
response time for KPS officers dispatched from southern
Mitrovica was hours, and sometimes days.


5. (SBU) There were three issues Boletin residents flagged
for our attention. USAID resurfaced the dirt road that leads
to the villages, making it passable year-round for the first
time in memory. They asked whether it would be possible for
USAID to return and pave the road. While one primary school
serves three villages, local children have to walk to
southern Mitrovica if they want to attend high school, which
takes 90 minutes each way. Consequently, many local children
were not continuing their education; they said that if they
were part of Mitrovica, they could seek to be on a school bus
route. Residents were very grateful that the Ahtisaari
package recognized the historical value of the Boletini
house, and that it and the adjacent Sokolica Monastery had
both been afforded protection. The residents of Boletin said
that they protected the monastery in 2004 and would continue
to do so.

Cabra: An Albanian Community in the North Willing to Engage
with Serb Municipal Officials

PRISTINA 00000237 002 OF 002




6. (SBU) Cabra was razed to the ground by Serbian forces in
1999 and rebuilt with diaspora funding. In 2004, three young
Albanians from the area drowned in the Ibar River. What was
in fact an accident became the spark that set off the
catastrophic anti-Serb violence throughout Kosovo. Our host
was Cerkin Veseli, father of one of the dead children and
former IVP grantee. Residents said they were committed to a
multi-ethnic Kosovo, which included their status as a
minority within a predominantly Serb municipality. When they
asked our views on the possibility of violence, they were
amused to see that we assumed they meant violence of the
inter-ethnic variety. Rather, they meant violence between
rejectionist Serbs and others who were prepared to continue
on in the new Kosovo. Residents noted that they maintained
contact with Serbs, although more on an official basis than
private links. Their view was that most Serbs have known
that independence is coming and want to remain as part of
Kosovo. They acknowledged the traumas of the past and that
there were radicals among all communities. One offered that
if "together we build a democratic Kosovo, the radicals will
lose their appeal within both communities."


7. (SBU) Cabra has two representatives in the 17-member
Zubin Potok Assembly (one LDK and one PDK); an LDK
representative also serves in the municipal vice presidency
reserved for minorities. A local community office (LCO) of
the municipality exists in Cabra, where residents can get
services such as civil registrations and birth certificates.
While these affairs are handled at the LCO, they are sealed
in Zubin Potok. This has not been a problem, according to
local residents. When Zubin Potok severed its ties to the
PISG, it was done "with the exception of the relations that
affect the Albanian communities in the municipality." Unlike
in Zvecan, the Zubin Potok municipality submitted its budget
request to the PISG on time, meaning that all local salaries
have been paid.


8. (SBU) Asked whether they are touched by Belgrade's
parallel structures in the north, they said that they were
aware that they existed, but added that they are mostly left
alone. As in Boletin, Cabra concerns were about jobs, health
care, schools and other social services. Residents noted
that poor governance and low standards of living would force
all Kosovars to leave, Serb or Albanian. The villagers
remembered well that former COM Ries had paid multiple visits
to the village and expressed gratitude that our current visit
sent a signal that we had them in mind during a period of
change.


9. (C) Comment: We were struck by the villagers' apparent
lack of security-related concerns given that they are an
Albanian minority in the part of Kosovo that is most hostile
to independence. We were also interested in the Cabra
residents' readiness to engage in the civic affairs of a
majority Serb municipality. Perhaps most striking is the
fact that it took going to small isolated villages in the
Serb north to find 20 ethnic Albanians who expressed
absolute, unreserved praise for the Ahtisaari package.
Residents believed that decentralization and minority rights
provisions would protect them, just as they would protect
Serbs. We generally frame the decentralization issue as the
main vehicle for guaranteeing the rights -- and continued
presence -- of the Serb community in Kosovo. These meetings
were a useful reminder that there is an important subset of
the issue dealing with Albanians, Kosovo-wide, who will be
minorities within decentralized local administrations. We
will follow their progress and assist where we can.


10. (U) USOP clears this cable in its entirety for release
to UN Special Envoy Ahtisaari.
KAIDANOW