KOSOVO: KOSOVO PROTECTION CORPS (KPC) COORDINATOR

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000392 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: 03/19/2017 TAGS: PGOV MASS EAID KDEM UNMIK YI SUBJECT: KOSOVO: KOSOVO PROTECTION CORPS (KPC) COORDINATOR SEEKS FUNDING FOR ONE YEAR AFTER STATUS REF: PRISTINA 259 Classified By: COM TINA KAIDANOW FOR REASONS 1.4 (B) AND (D). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) held a May 10 briefing in Pristina on what it said was an "urgent requirement" to fund the Office of the Kosovo Protection Corps Coordinator (OKPCC),an UNMIK organization, for one year after status. KPC Coordinator Major General Sykes told participants that UNDP and UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) officials plan to host a donors conference as early as late May to try to raise approximately USD 2,000,000 for the continuation of the OKPCC. Under this plan, the UN would second 16 OKPCC staff members, administered by UNDP, to the NATO-led International Military Presence (IMP) that is mandated in UN Special Envoy Ahtisaari's proposal on Kosovo's future status. While the Ahtisaari proposal calls for disbanding the KPC within one year of status and creating the new Kosovo Security Force (KSF),it does not provide for the continuation of the OKPCC. Rather, it gives the NATO-led IMP executive authority over the KPC and responsibility for standing up the KSF and its civilian oversight body. We believe that NATO should make the decision whether or not retaining any international OKPCC staff makes sense, and that any such staff retained are best employed directly by NATO and not via the UNDP. END SUMMARY. OKPCC seeks USD 2 million in assistance to keep running ¶2. (C) The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) held a pre-briefing in Pristina on May 10, claiming there was an "urgent requirement" to fund the Office of the Kosovo Protection Corps Coordinator (OKPCC) for one year after status resolution. Kosovo Protection Corps Coordinator Major General Matthew Sykes informed representatives from liaison offices, development agencies, and international and regional organizations that senior United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and UNDP officials will host a donors conference in New York as early as late May to try to raise approximately USD 2,000,000 for the continuation of the OKPCC. The money would cover salaries and administrative costs for 11 United Nations (UN) international staff and five UN local staff who have been working in the OKPCC on planning for post-UNMIK developments. The UN would, under this plan, second them to the NATO-led International Military Presence (IMP) that UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtissari calls for in his proposal on Kosovo's future status, with UNDP oversight. ¶3. (C) Sykes argued that maintaining the 16 OKPCC staff for the first year after status will be crucial to ensuring a successful transition from the KPC to the Kosovo Security Force foreseen under the Ahtisaari plan. (Note: While allowing for the continuation of the KPC up to a maximum of one year after the end of the transition period, the Ahtisaari proposal does not address the OKPCC's future. Instead, it gives the NATO-led IMP executive authority over the KPC and responsibility for determining the timing of its dissolution. It also tasks the IMP with standing up the new KSF and its civilian oversight body - in essence, what would be a Ministry of Defense. End Note.) Sykes pointed out that the KPC will have to continue its civil defense functions until the KSF is created and adequately trained to avoid a gap in capabilities. These functions, which include disaster response services, search and rescue, humanitarian assistance in isolated areas, demining, and community assistance, are largely unavailable from other local sources, he added. Sykes also maintained that the NATO-led IMP would benefit greatly from OKPCC staff institutional memory and strong relations with KPC members. He also argued -- far less convincingly -- that the UN, which created the KPC, has a moral responsibility for overseeing its disbandment. ¶4. (C) COMMENT: We support the notion of giving NATO the flexibility to retain international OKPCC staff who might be of use to them, though in our view any such staff working on the creation of the KSF or its civilian oversight body should PRISTINA 00000392 002 OF 002 be employed by NATO directly rather than UNDP. It is possible that some international OKPCC staff working specifically on KPC disbanding could remain under UNDP administrative control and be seconded to NATO. However, it is abundantly clear that at least in part, Sykes' effort to retain local OKPCC staff under the UN umbrella has the objective of maintaining their inflated salaries for an additional year or more. These employees should, we think, be transitioned into the Kosovo Government as quickly as practical. NATO should drive the KSF train, and its decisions -- not that of UNDP's or bilateral donors -- must determine whether and how OKPCC can be of further use in the transition effort. END COMMENT. KAIDANOW