KOSOVO CHURCH RECONSTRUCTION UNDER ATTACK BY SERB

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PRISTINA 000386 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE NSC FOR BRAUN USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI EUR/ACE FOR DMAYHEW E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/11/2017 TAGS: KCRM KDEM PGOV PINR PREL YI UNMIK EAID PHUM SOCI SUBJECT: KOSOVO CHURCH RECONSTRUCTION UNDER ATTACK BY SERB NATIONALISTS REF: A. 07 PRISTINA 20 ¶B. 06 PRISTINA 495 ¶C. 06 PRISTINA 853 Classified By: COM Tina S. Kaidanow for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY. The work of Kosovo's highly successful Reconstruction Implementation Commission for Serbian Orthodox Religious Sites in Kosovo (RIC) is grinding to a halt due to attacks from the hardline Serbian government representative on the commission, in coordination with the intractable Serb Orthodox church leader Bishop Artemije. The RIC's ability to continue with this important work now hangs in the balance, and will depend on whether the Serbian government returns to the commission and whether the Assembly of Bishops in Belgrade reaffirms or withdraws its support for the RIC. The ominous presence of Kostunica advisors at the recent UN Security Council visit to the Serb Orthodox seat at Gracanica previewed an increasingly hard and coordinated line on the part of the Church and the Belgrade regime with regard to church reconstruction, among other Kosovo-related policy issues. The politicization of this important process is a major step backwards in one of the few areas of successful Pristina/Belgrade cooperation to date. END SUMMARY. RIC A SOLID SUCCESS IN THE PAST ¶2. (SBU) The Reconstruction Implementation Commission for Serbian Orthodox Religious Sites in Kosovo (RIC) is one of the few examples of successful multi-ethnic cooperation between Pristina and Belgrade. The RIC is chaired by the Council of Europe (COE) and includes representatives from the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC),the Kosovo Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport (MCYS),Serbia's Institute for the Protection of Cultural Monuments (IPM),and Kosovo's Institute for the Protection of Monuments. In 2005 the RIC completed emergency interventions on 31 of the 35 Orthodox sites damaged in the March 2004 riots, and in 2006 it did extensive reconstruction of eight key sites, including the Episcopal Church of St. George in Prizren and St. Nicholas Church in Pristina (Ref A). ¶3. (SBU) The RIC has ambitious plans to do extensive reconstruction on 16 sites in 2007, including complex interior design work such as icon paintings and at least one iconostasis. The vast majority of its funding comes from the Kosovo Provisional Institutions of Self Government (PISG), although the RIC is seeking national donors for specific projects, including the new iconostasis at St. Nicholas Church in Pristina. (Note: USOP proposed this project for the Ambassador's Fund for Cultural Preservation. End Note.) However, RIC Project Manager Francisco Montanes told us on May 10 that Gordana Markovic, director of the Serbian IPM and IPM representative to the RIC, announced a boycott of the RIC meetings one day prior to the February meeting. Montanes said that the RIC cannot perform its functions without the Serbian IPM representative, whose presence is needed to approve tenders. As a result, he said there have been no official commission meetings since February, and no new tenders have been approved for 2007. ¶4. (C) Despite these difficulties, the RIC continues to do important work. Montanes said the RIC has already started two new projects in Prizren that are being funded by the European Agency for Reconstruction (EAR): the Orthodox Seminary and the Episcopal Residence (the official residence of hardline Bishop Artemije Radosavljevic, head of the Raska and Prizren Diocese). Montanes said that the RIC is also completing 2006 projects, including technical assessments, the repair of minor defects, and additional reconstruction work on St. George in Prizren. In addition, the Leposavic branch of the Serbian IPM has ignored its director's boycott and continues to cooperate with the RIC by preparing technical specifications for 2007 project tenders. Montanes PRISTINA 00000386 002 OF 003 noted that the Serbian Minister of Culture has recently appointed a replacement for Markovic, and said that the new representative is scheduled to participate in the next meeting, which will take place on May 23 in Kosovo. Four projects will up for approval at that meeting, including one that has been ready since the February meeting. Montanes pointed out, however, that the delay has already had a cost: even if all the projects are now approved, the one-to-two month tendering timeline means that work will not actually start until at least July. RIC WORK UNDER THREAT FROM BELGRADE AND CONSERVATIVE KOSOVO CLERICS ¶5. (C) Montanes expressed his concern that Gordana Markovic, in an unholy alliance with Bishop Artemije, is attempting to influence the SOC Assembly of Bishops taking place this week in Belgrade to withdraw its support from the RIC. Markovic recently published a report sharply criticizing the work of the RIC. Montanes said the report focuses on minor imperfections in the reconstruction work and criticizes the RIC for failing to reconstruct all sites. He commented on the irony of this, saying that her Markovic's own institute has been closely involved in every element of the RIC's work, including proposing projects, approving tenders, and providing technical expertise and oversight of all of the reconstruction work. ¶6. (C) For his part, Bishop Artemije has long opposed any efforts at church reconstruction, insisting that churches should not be reconstructed until their security can be ensured and Serb internally displaced persons (including himself) can return to their homes (Ref B). Artemije has used sporadic incidents of theft and vandalism at reconstructed churches, including St. Nicholas in Pristina, as proof that Albanians cannot be trusted to have a hand in church reconstruction (Ref C). In often contradictory statements to the Serb media, Artemije has insisted that the reconstruction must stop, complaining that the process started too late and was progressing too slowly. He has also expressed his opposition to the "way in which the reconstruction is being done" (meaning that some Kosovo Albanian contractors are involved). ¶7. (C) Montanes said that although the RIC continues to have the strong support of the SOC through its representative to the RIC, moderate Bishop Teodosije Sibalic of Decani Monastery, he is very worried that the Assembly of Bishops might be swayed by Artemije's and Markovic's arguments and withdraw SOC support, which would be fatal to the reconstruction process. Montanes added that he is working closely with Bishop Teodosije to provide comprehensive documentary evidence of the RIC's substantial achievements progress to date, in order to avert such an outcome. ¶8. (C) Montanes told us that he believes that Markovic is motivated by her own hard-line Serbian nationalism and political ambitions, and said she is taking advantage of divisions and disarray within the Serbian government to push her own agenda at this particularly sensitive moment. Markovic has proposed that the MOU underpinning the work of the RIC be re-written to give the Serbian government the lead role in the reconstruction process, changes that would probably be unacceptable to the CoE and other partners. Montanes maintained that Markovic's ultimate objective was to consolidate Serbian government control over the entire reconstruction process, retaining access to Kosovo government funding while preventing the PISG from being able to point to this as an example of successful multi-ethnic cooperation. KEY ORTHODOX SUPPORTERS OF THE RECONSTRUCTION PROCESS ALSO UNDER THREAT ¶9. (C) Moderate SOC leaders Bishop Teodosije and his PRISTINA 00000386 003 OF 003 assistant Father Sava Janjic have expressed similarly deep concerns to us over the attacks both on the church reconstruction process and on Teodosije himself, for his role as the officially designated SOC representative to the RIC. Sava told us that, "objectively speaking...reconstruction (under the RIC) is going well and satisfactory." He also said plainly that some of the Kosovo Albanian contractors have done such a good job and worked so professionally that they have been employed on separate projects (outside the RIC process) at Decani Monastery and the Patriarchate at Peja/Pec. Sava agonized that the reconstruction process was becoming a victim to the political fight over Kosovo's status, and added that halting this process would send a negative signal to Kosovo Serb internally displaced persons (IDPs) who might be contemplating a return to Kosovo. Sava noted that Teodosije has quietly initiated proposals to improve security at reconstructed sites, including the positioning of fixed security guards and surveillance cameras at sensitive sites. COMMENT ¶10. (C) The RIC has been one of the most successful joint Pristina/Belgrade efforts to date, and it has made a real, highly visual impact on the ground with the reconstruction of destroyed churches and religious sites. The further disruption of this process would be a major setback. Its opponents claim to want a better, faster reconstruction process, but halting the efforts overseen by the RIC would achieve neither of these objectives. The reconstruction of Serb religious sites is an important part of the overall process of peace and reconciliation in Kosovo, and contributes tremendously towards creating an environment favorable to the return of Serb IDPs. We will continue to support the RIC to the extent possible, although it appears that the ultimate decisions on the future of the commission lie in the hands of government and church officials in Belgrade, a daunting and rather depressing prospect. END COMMENT. KAIDANOW