KOSOVO: 3,000 RALLY IN PRISTINA FOR FORMER PM AND

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000349

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

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

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/03/2017
TAGS: PGOV KJUS KCRM EAID KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: 3,000 RALLY IN PRISTINA FOR FORMER PM AND
ICTY INDICTEE RAMUSH HARADINAJ


Classified By: COM TINA KAIDANOW FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D).


1. (C) SUMMARY: An estimated 3,000 people rallied peacefully
in Pristina during lunch hour on May 2 in support of ICTY
indictee and former Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj. Some
high-level officials of Haradinaj's Alliance for the Future
of Kosovo (AAK) party participated, as well as prominent
members of other parties, though key government members
including the Prime Minister stayed away at USOP urging. The
rallies - this was the 15th since Haradinaj left Kosovo for
trial in The Hague - are part of a calculated party effort to
survive the absence of its leader. The Pristina rally,
however, was larger in scale and visibility than the
previous, and we have warned party officials that such
displays bring unwanted attention to the public's support for
an indicted war criminal. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) Late on April 30, USOP received word that a rally
would be organized May 2 in support of Alliance for the
Future of Kosovo (AAK) party leader and former Prime Minister
Ramush Haradinaj, currently on trial in The Hague for alleged
war crimes committed during the 1998-1999 conflict. The
event was sponsored by the AAK Youth Forum, which has in
recent months organized a number of similar marches and
rallies, though generally in western Kosovo and without undue
fanfare. Recognizing that such an event in the heart of
Pristina would portray a negative image of Kosovo just days
after a successful UN Security Council visit, USOP called
major AAK officials, including the Prime Minister, to ask
that the rally be called off. All professed to be incapable
of reversing the logistical preparations that had already
been undertaken, but the Prime Minister promised to press his
cabinet members to avoid attending the rally.


3. (C) Approximately 3000 participants showed up on the day,
including -- despite USOP intervention and the Prime
Minister's action -- several prominent Kosovo government
figures, mainly from the AAK ranks: former Prime Minister
Bajram Kosumi (AAK); Energy Minister Ethem Ceku (AAK); Trade
and Industry minister Bujar Dugolli (AAK); Kosovo Assembly
Presidency member Naim Maloku (AAK); AAK caucus leader
Gjylnaze Syla; Assembly Presidency member Hajredin Kuci
(PDK); E.O.-listees Rrustem Mustafa and MP Emrush Xhemajli
(PLK); MP Gjergj Dedaj (PLK); Pristina mayor Ismet Beqiri
(LDK); Gjakove mayor Aqif Shehu (LDK); AAK Youth Wing leader
Kujtim Kerveshi, and the president of the Council for Defense
of Human Rights and Freedoms Pajazit Nushi. According to
press accounts, Kovoso Liberation Army (KLA) war veterans
associations, the University of Pristina Student Union, and
even some football organizations also took part in the rally,
which was held on the seventh anniversary of the AAK's
founding. Supporters chanted Haradinaj's name, waved
Albanian flags, and held aloft Haradinaj's picture as well as
banners reading "Freedom for Liberators" and "We Believe in
Justice." Following a march to the National Theater,
organizers symbolically set doves free from cages (note: in
fact, it was pigeons from shoe boxes),declaring that
Haradinaj deserved the same freedom.


4. (C) COMMENT: The rallies, and the now-ubiquitous
billboards across Kosovo reminding people to be "with
Ramush," are part of a calculated campaign to ensure that
Haradinaj retains a place in the popular memory, such that if
and when he returns -- as he and his supporters believe he
will -- he can return without break to his former status as a
high-level political arbiter in Kosovo. The campaign, and
the effort to deify Ramush, may also be the glue that is
keeping the AAK together; without Haradinaj as the central
unifying figure, there is not much left to the party or its
cohesiveness. There is thus ample AAK resistance to ending
these rallies, despite the negative image conveyed in
supporting an indicted war criminal and criticizing The
Hague's conduct of the trial. We have made clear to AAK
officials at the highest level, and to the PM himself, that
this kind of event brings only damage to Kosovo's cause in
the Security Council, and will continue to remind them at
every opportunity. END COMMENT.

PRISTINA 00000349 002 OF 002




5. (SBU) U.S. Office Pristina clears this cable in its
entirety for release to U.N. Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari.
KAIDANOW