THE ROAD AND THE WALL: GETTING THE GOVERNMENT TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PRISTINA 000407

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: 05/22/2017
TAGS: PGOV KJUS KCRM EAID KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: THE ROAD AND THE WALL: GETTING THE GOVERNMENT TO
TAKE THE LEADING ROLE ON ISSUES AFFECTING SERBS

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


1. (C) SUMMARY: Two issues that have seen recent negative
developments -- plans to construct a road near the Decani
Monastery, linking western Kosovo to Montenegro, and
controversy over the building of a security wall around the
Pec Patriarchate -- foreshadow the difficulties regarding
implementation of Ahtisaari final status provisions that
protect the Serbian Orthodox Church (SOC) in Kosovo. In both
instances, the Kosovo government did the right thing, but
only after significant intervention and prodding from us and
other key internationals. Problems center on the failure of
high-level officials, including PM Ceku, to take timely
decisions that are communicated throughout the government,
and the ability of municipal figures, such as the
irresponsible mayor of Peja/Pec in western Kosovo, to (ab)use
these issues to stir up local feeling against the SOC. The
good news is that our Serb interlocutors on these matters are
Father Sava and Bishop Teodosije, the moderate and pragmatic
leaders of world-renowned Decani Monastery. But these two
have their own difficulties trying to find acceptable
solutions that do not put them at odds with their
increasingly extremist church leadership in Kosovo and
Belgrade. This situation was the main topic at a May 21
meeting chaired by SRSG Ruecker with Contact Group and
International Civilian Office (ICO) planning team reps, at
which all agreed that Ruecker should write to PM Ceku urging
greater commitment by the government to resolve these
problems on its own. The establishment of a transition group
on church and religious heritage on May 24, jointly chaired
by the ICO and the Ministry of Culture and including USOP,
may also help prod the government to play the leading role on
issues affecting Kosovo Serbs now and in the future. END
SUMMARY.

The Decani Road: Tender? What tender?


2. (C) Rumors of Kosovo government plans to build a road
linking Decani, in western Kosovo, to Montenegro and beyond
have been around for some time. Meeting May 4 with COM,
however, Father Sava and Bishop Teodosije of Decani Monastery
expressed concern that such plans might now be in the offing
and involve a road through the Monastery's Special Zoning
Area (SZA) or use of the current road that runs past the
Monastery for heavy construction machinery -- both forbidden
under an SRSG executive order and the Ahtisaari final status
proposal. Using Google digital maps to make his case, Sava
said the Monastery was not against the building of a road,
but suggested a bypass solution that would not affect the
SZA. Sava, noting that he had good relations with the Decani
municipality, said he had shared this idea with the Decani
mayor, and gotten some positive feedback, but remained
worried nonetheless.


3. (C) In the ensuing days, we and other key internationals
here, under the welcome leadership of the International
Civilian Office (ICO) planning team, discovered that not only
had a tender been let for the initial phase, it had already
been won, and the Transportation Ministry was poised to sign
a contract with the winner to begin construction of the first
stretch. Although no one could produce the tender or the
feasibility study that was reportedly done to support it, we
learned that this first stretch was located north of the SZA
proceeding to the nearby Montenegrin border. Upon approach
by USOP, Transportation Minister Ahmeti and Labor Minister
Selmanaj, a former mayor of Decani and knowledgeable about
the project, could not assure us that this inital work would
not violate the SRSG executive order against heavy
construction machinery using the existing road in front of
the Monastery.


4. (C) When the issue was raised with him by COM, PM Ceku
claimed he had decided to cancel the tender and not allow any
construction until a feasibility study was done based on the
use of a bypass road that would not affect the SZA. But this
decision apparently was not communicated to Transportation

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Minister Ahmeti. Ahmeti, at a cordial meeting on May 18 at
the Decani Monastery with Father Sava along with USOP and
international community reps, seemed unaware of the PM's
decision, but also promised not to begin any construction
until the feasibility study was completed. At a May 16
strategy session at ICO PT headquarters, consensus among
internationals was that all this opaque activity was perhaps
meant to create "facts on the ground" that would erode the
Monastery's position over time.

The Patriarchate Wall: Government gets moving only when
prodded


5. (C) The building of a 3-meter stone security wall and gate
around the Pec Patriarchate in western Kosovo is also not a
new issue. Father Sava, who is involved in this matter as
well, has said that the wall, which will replace unsightly
sandbags and barbed wire, is necessary for the security of
the nuns at the Patriachate. In past months, Ali Lajci, the
combative mayor of Peja/Pec, has had the municipality issue
orders to stop construction, claiming the Patriarchate never
filed a construction permit and that part of the
construction, near the gate, was on municipal land.
(Comment: Father Sava disputes this, saying the SOC does not
need permission from the municipality to build on its land,
and that the gate is within the Patriarchate's property.
Neither UNMIK nor anyone else has ever made a definitive
ruling either way. This presumably will be cleared up with
implementation of the Ahtisaari Plan, which has a mechanism
for determining such issues. End Comment.)


6. (C) Things became more tense in recent days when Lajci
began issuing inflammatory statements, publicly calling for
"not one stone more" to be added to the wall. On May 16,
when USOP met with the CEO of Peja to discuss the matter, the
municipality, unbeknownst to us, had already issued another
stop order and work on the wall came to a halt. On May 17,
USOP, along with other internationals, attended a meeting
between Mayor Lajci and Bishop Teodosije and Father Sava.
The meeting began cordially enough, but ended in clear
disagreement and the refusal of Lajci to budge. On May 19,
Lajci took part in a roundtable with Self-Determination
Movement (SDM) members, at which he again maintained that
construction would not be allowed. Later that day, SDM led a
small protest march to the Patriarchate, which ended without
incident.


7. (C) The central government became involved only when we
alerted Deputy PM Lutfi Haziri to this unhappy situation.
Haziri met May 18 with Lajci in Peja, but could get not get
his agreement to allow the work to continue. The same day,
Haziri sent a letter to SRSG Ruecker asking him to issue an
executive order suspending the municipality's action, which
Ruecker agreed to immediately. Although publicly conceding
nothing, Lajci has told Haziri that he will not physically
stop the construction, but will contest the central
government's decision in the courts. Haziri's quick and
welcome action resolved the immediate problem, but he has
been on the defensive as Lajci has attacked the Kosovo
government and the SRSG for taking the side of the
Patriarchate against the "rule of law." (Comment: Lajci's
position is laughable as Peja (and Kosovo in general) is
brimming with examples of illegal construction. This context
puts into question Lajci's motives in focusing on the
Patriarchate. End Comment.)

Getting the government to act, not just react


8. (C) Referencing the two issues discussed above, how to
get the government to resolve these problems on its own was
the main topic at a May 21 meeting chaired by SRSG Ruecker
with Contact Group heads of offices and ICO PT head
Sohlstrom. The consensus was that Ruecker, on behalf of the
CG and ICO PT, would write to PM Ceku asking for the
government to demonstrate a greater commitment to take on
issues affecting the Kosovo Serb community, and not to wait

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passively for the internationals to urge action. ICO PT head
Sohlstrom also noted that the establishment of a transition
working group on church and religious heritage on May 24,
chaired jointly by the ICO PT and the Ministry of Culture and
including USOP, would also encourage the government to play
the leading role.


9. (C) COMMENT: We can expect issues like the Decani road
and the Patriarchate wall to crop up often during the
implementation of the Ahtisaari final status proposal. Of
course, the ICO's raison d'etre will be to ensure proper
implementation of the Ahtisaari plan, but the Kosovo
government's commitment to the Kosovo Serb community will
ring hollow if the ICO, as the internationals do now, have to
urge it to action at every turn. It is progress of a sort
that the government generally does the right thing in the end
-- when shoved hard -- but the time has come for PISG
officials to step up forcefully on behalf of Kosovo Serb
interests. END COMMENT.
KAIDANOW