Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07PRISTINA379
2007-05-15 12:38:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Pristina
Cable title:
KOSOVO ALBANIANS COMMEMORATE KOSOVO'S NEW MISSING
how-toVZCZCXRO5565 PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHPS #0379/01 1351238 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 151238Z MAY 07 FM USOFFICE PRISTINA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7343 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 0951 RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1148 RHFMIUU/AFSOUTH NAPLES IT RHMFISS/CDR TF FALCON RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC RUEPGEA/CDR650THMIGP SHAPE BE RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC RUFOANA/USNIC PRISTINA SR
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000379
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE
NSC FOR BRAUN
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI
EUR/ACE FOR DMAYHEW
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM KDEM PGOV PINR PREL YI UNMIK EAID PHUM
SOCI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO ALBANIANS COMMEMORATE KOSOVO'S NEW MISSING
PERSONS DAY
REF: A. 03 PRISTINA 1823
B. 06 PRISTINA 282
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000379
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE
NSC FOR BRAUN
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI
EUR/ACE FOR DMAYHEW
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM KDEM PGOV PINR PREL YI UNMIK EAID PHUM
SOCI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO ALBANIANS COMMEMORATE KOSOVO'S NEW MISSING
PERSONS DAY
REF: A. 03 PRISTINA 1823
B. 06 PRISTINA 282
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY
1. (SBU) SUMMARY. The Kosovo government officially
recognized April 27 as Missing Persons Day. By changing the
date from the internationally-observed August 30 to the
anniversary of one of the largest massacres of Kosovo
Albanians in 1999, the government scored some unnecessary PR
points against Belgrade but may have complicated the actual
task of a final accounting of the missing. The main
commemoration took place in Meja, where Kosovo Albanians
buried 22 Muslim and Catholic victims of that massacre.
Thousands of people participated in the event and paid their
respects to the families of the victims. PM Ceku addressed
the crowd, saying that Serbia should apologize for the deaths
that occurred during the war. This change in focus is
unfortunate since it does nothing substantive to find the
missing; it turns the wrenching issues of missing persons and
other atrocities into a bludgeon with which to make political
points. END SUMMARY.
2. (SBU) Starting in 2000, Kosovo Albanians have held annual
commemorations on April 27 in a large field outside Meja
(Gjakove/Djakovica municipality, in southwestern Kosovo).
The field marks the site where over 350 Kosovo Albanians went
missing during one of the largest massacres of the 1999
conflict. In the early years the commemorations were for
honoring and remembering the victims. Most of the bodies
were later found in mass graves in Serbia, and over time they
have slowly been identified and repatriated. The field has
been transformed into a cemetery and the annual
commemorations turned into burials (reftels). Gjakove has a
mixed Kosovo Albanian Catholic and Muslim population, and
this cemetery is the only one in Kosovo where Catholics and
Muslims are buried side by side.
3. (SBU) In February 2007, the Kosovo Assembly voted to
officially designate April 27 Kosovo Missing Persons Day.
Previously, Kosovo commemorated the International Day of
Missing Persons on August 30. This year on April 27, members
of the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) buried 22 Muslim and
Catholic Kosovo Albanian victims of the 1999 Meja massacre.
Thousands of Kosovo Albanians participated in the event,
holding their right hands over their hearts as they slowly
filed past the weeping family members, who stood near the
open graves with pictures of their loved ones. It was a warm
spring day, and as Kosovo Protection Corps members brought
the simple wooden coffins one by one onto the field, each
draped with a red Albanian flag, at least ten people were
overcome with heat and grief and had to be whisked away on
stretchers by the Red Cross.
4. (SBU) Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku addressed the
crowd, saying that Serbia can never move forward until it
distances itself from the past. He added that Serbia should
apologize for the deaths that occurred in Kosovo and
elsewhere. During a subsequent speech, a representative of
the family member associations singled out Valerie Brasey,
director of UNMIK's Office of Missing Persons and Forensics
(OMPF),for special thanks for the work OMPF has done to
return these and other victims to their families.
5. (SBU) COMMENT. Progress on resolving the fate of
Kosovo's missing remains slow, and family members are
understandably frustrated. However, the government's
changing of International Missing Persons day to the
anniversary of a particularly horrific massacre does nothing
substantive to find the missing, and actually sets back
efforts at reconciliation between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs.
Our ongoing policy approach will be to act on the basis of
our desire to see justice done while at the same time
PRISTINA 00000379 002 OF 002
disassociating ourselves from efforts -- irresistable for
most Kosovars -- to use past injustices as grounds for
current and future ones. END COMMENT.
KAIDANOW
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE
NSC FOR BRAUN
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI
EUR/ACE FOR DMAYHEW
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM KDEM PGOV PINR PREL YI UNMIK EAID PHUM
SOCI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO ALBANIANS COMMEMORATE KOSOVO'S NEW MISSING
PERSONS DAY
REF: A. 03 PRISTINA 1823
B. 06 PRISTINA 282
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY
1. (SBU) SUMMARY. The Kosovo government officially
recognized April 27 as Missing Persons Day. By changing the
date from the internationally-observed August 30 to the
anniversary of one of the largest massacres of Kosovo
Albanians in 1999, the government scored some unnecessary PR
points against Belgrade but may have complicated the actual
task of a final accounting of the missing. The main
commemoration took place in Meja, where Kosovo Albanians
buried 22 Muslim and Catholic victims of that massacre.
Thousands of people participated in the event and paid their
respects to the families of the victims. PM Ceku addressed
the crowd, saying that Serbia should apologize for the deaths
that occurred during the war. This change in focus is
unfortunate since it does nothing substantive to find the
missing; it turns the wrenching issues of missing persons and
other atrocities into a bludgeon with which to make political
points. END SUMMARY.
2. (SBU) Starting in 2000, Kosovo Albanians have held annual
commemorations on April 27 in a large field outside Meja
(Gjakove/Djakovica municipality, in southwestern Kosovo).
The field marks the site where over 350 Kosovo Albanians went
missing during one of the largest massacres of the 1999
conflict. In the early years the commemorations were for
honoring and remembering the victims. Most of the bodies
were later found in mass graves in Serbia, and over time they
have slowly been identified and repatriated. The field has
been transformed into a cemetery and the annual
commemorations turned into burials (reftels). Gjakove has a
mixed Kosovo Albanian Catholic and Muslim population, and
this cemetery is the only one in Kosovo where Catholics and
Muslims are buried side by side.
3. (SBU) In February 2007, the Kosovo Assembly voted to
officially designate April 27 Kosovo Missing Persons Day.
Previously, Kosovo commemorated the International Day of
Missing Persons on August 30. This year on April 27, members
of the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC) buried 22 Muslim and
Catholic Kosovo Albanian victims of the 1999 Meja massacre.
Thousands of Kosovo Albanians participated in the event,
holding their right hands over their hearts as they slowly
filed past the weeping family members, who stood near the
open graves with pictures of their loved ones. It was a warm
spring day, and as Kosovo Protection Corps members brought
the simple wooden coffins one by one onto the field, each
draped with a red Albanian flag, at least ten people were
overcome with heat and grief and had to be whisked away on
stretchers by the Red Cross.
4. (SBU) Kosovo Prime Minister Agim Ceku addressed the
crowd, saying that Serbia can never move forward until it
distances itself from the past. He added that Serbia should
apologize for the deaths that occurred in Kosovo and
elsewhere. During a subsequent speech, a representative of
the family member associations singled out Valerie Brasey,
director of UNMIK's Office of Missing Persons and Forensics
(OMPF),for special thanks for the work OMPF has done to
return these and other victims to their families.
5. (SBU) COMMENT. Progress on resolving the fate of
Kosovo's missing remains slow, and family members are
understandably frustrated. However, the government's
changing of International Missing Persons day to the
anniversary of a particularly horrific massacre does nothing
substantive to find the missing, and actually sets back
efforts at reconciliation between Kosovo Albanians and Serbs.
Our ongoing policy approach will be to act on the basis of
our desire to see justice done while at the same time
PRISTINA 00000379 002 OF 002
disassociating ourselves from efforts -- irresistable for
most Kosovars -- to use past injustices as grounds for
current and future ones. END COMMENT.
KAIDANOW