KOSOVO: MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS SLOWLY TAKES

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PRISTINA 000698

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/ACE, S/CRS, INL, AND S/WCI, NSC FOR
BRAUN, USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/13/2017
TAGS: PGOV KJUS KCRM EAID UNMIK KV
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS SLOWLY TAKES
ON UNMIK COMPETENCIES

REF: PRISTINA 643

Classified By: COM Tina Kaidanow for reasons 1.4 (b),(d)


1. (C) Summary: Operating for more than a year, the embryonic
Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) is gradually taking over
the law enforcement competencies of UNMIK, starting with
civil status and registration, production of documents,
emergency management, and vehicle registration. Those
remaining to be fully transferred are the most sensitive -
the Central Civil Registry, asylum and repatriation
determinations, the entry and exit of foreigners, naming the
head of the Kosovo Police Service (KPS),and border
management. Plagued by limited capacity, the daunting legal
requirements, and the challenge of standing up a new
institution with staff from different bureaucratic cultures
physicaly spread over four buildings, the Ministry's ability
to successfully take on these competencies in the near-term
will be a great challange. Assistance by the international
community will be essential to ensure the proper legal
framework is in place, backed by an institutional capability
to implement it. We are gearing up to provide support for
the MIA, particularly on the range of CT issues that directly
affect our interests, through an expansion of our DOJ/ICITAP
program. End Summary.


2. (U) UNMIK created the MIA by Regulation 2005/53 in
December 2005; the regulation marked the starting point in
the transfer of UNMIK's competencies in law enforcement to
the PISG. The MIA became fully operational in April 2006,
following drawn-out negotiations between the two government
coalition parties, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and
the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK),over the
designation of the minister. After a positive review of
MIA's performance, the SRSG assigned additional competencies
to the ministry through UNMIK Regulation 2006/26 in April

2006. The MIA is currently led by an LDK member, Blerim
Kuci, who replaced another LDK member, Fatmir Rexhepi, who
resigned after the killing of two protesters during the
violent Vetevendosje protests of February 10, 2007. Kuci
served as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs during
Rexhepi's tenure.

SLOWLY TAKING THE REINS FROM UNMIK
--------------


3. (U) MIA exercises full responsibility for registration of
vehicles and issuance of all civil documents except identity
cards and travel documents (note: this does not extend to
Serb enclaves in southern Kosovo and the northern Serb
municipalities, where the Serbian government continues to
issue all such documentation). In other areas, the MIA
assists UNMIK in exercising several of its reserved
competencies. This includes implementing the applicable law
on the movement of persons into and out of Kosovo,
considering applications for refugee status, administering
identity cards and travel documents, and managing the Central
Civil Registry and database. To carry out its border
management authorities, the MIA cooperates through UNMIK with
the various actors - Kosovar and international - that have
responsibilities in the field of public order and safety.


4. (U) The MIA oversees the Kosovo Police Service (KPS),
which is subject to the authority of the SRSG acting through
the international police commissioner, but does not interfere
with police operations and criminal investigations. MIA
political advisor Arber Gorani told us that the MIA's
relations with the KPS have improved following initial
reservations about the wisdom of allowing Kosovar oversight.


5. (U) UNMIK has five staff monitoring the MIA overall and
supporting the transition of competencies, headed by
Principal International Officer Kristin Wambold-Leibling.
There are also six UNMIK controllers at the Central
Processing Center of the Department for Production of
Documents who report to the Central Civil Registrar.


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6. (U) The MIA conducts its operations through seven
departments -- four of which were transferred to the MIA from
the Ministry of Public Services (MPS) and three of which were
newly created:

- Department of Registration and Civil Status
- Department for Production of Documents
- Department of Vehicle Registration and Driver Licenses
- Department of Emergency Management
- Department of Borders, Asylum, and Refugees
- Department of Internal Security Policies
- Department of Central Administration

The MIA also houses the Kosovo Center for Public Safety,
Development and Education (KCPSDE).


7. (SBU) Located in four different buildings throughout
Pristina, the MIA has around 800 employees and is expected to
grow to around 1,000 in 2008. These employees have not been
vetted, and many lack required competencies (reftel). The
MIA hopes to start construction of a new building to house
the entire ministry in November 2007 and complete it within
18 months. The cost of this three million euro project will
be evenly divided between the European Agency for
Reconstruction (EAR) and the Kosovo Consolidated Budget.


8. (U) The MIA budget for 2007 is around 9.6 million euros,
of which 2.1 million are dedicated to salaries, 2.65 million
to goods and services, and 4.66 million to capital
investment. The MIA has requested 24 million euro for 2008,
of which 2.75 million would be dedicated to salaries, 4.98
million to goods and services, and 15.9 million to capital
investments; this latter category includes the cost for the
production of the new Kosovo passport. The KPS budget for
2007 was 56.4 million euro, and the KPS has requested 91
million for 2008. (Note: The 2008 budget review and approval
process is still ongoing, and these figures are likely higher
than what will be approved. End note.)

PRIORITIES AND ISSUES
--------------


9. (SBU) Continued transfer of competencies is the highest
among the ministry's many priorities, according to Gorani.
The minister wants to undertake a full review of police
systems, which will likely be carried out jointly with the
UNMIK police commissioner. Delays in the final status
process have afforded the ministry some breathing space in
another critical priority - the production of new Kosovo
passports; current estimates suggest that the MIA would be
ready to start producing new passports 127 days from the date
of decision on final status. The opening of a new border
crossing point with Montenegro, another MIA priority, is in
process.


10. (C) Wambold-Liebling contends that the ministry is weak
overall but has interested and gifted management. She
believes that the most critical issues ahead are how to
transfer competencies, especially the Central Civil Registry,
without compromising the security and integrity of the
existing systems, how to increase the capacities of the
staff, and how to better control the movement of foreigners
into and out of Kosovo. She believes the ministry needs
assistance in the following areas:

- civil registration and documents
- repatriation, migration, asylum and border control
- relationship between the ministry and the KPS
- legal drafting
- coordination of MIA departments and services


11. (SBU) EAR and the UK's Department for International
Development (DFID) have been the largest providers of
technical assistance to the MIA. DFID assistance has focused
primarily on drafting and then implementation and monitoring
of the MIA strategic and operational plans; the MIA has
applied for an additional 1.5 million euro from DFID for

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support to the Departments of Internal Security Policies,
Emergency Management, and Border, Asylum and Refugees. EAR
programs ending this fall have supported the police and
integrated border management; future support will focus on
compliance with EU technical standards, which is also the
focus of UNDP's programs with the MIA. An advisor each from
France, Switzerland and Sweden have also been placed at the
MIA. The EU Planning Team plans to place several advisors in
the MIA as part of the European Security and Defense Policy
mission in Kosovo, which would be stood up following
resolution of Kosovo's status.

LEGISLATIVE AGENDA
--------------


12. (U) The MIA's Office of Legal Affairs has five employees
responsible for the daunting task of drafting the twelve laws
in the MIA's legislative agenda for 2007, as well as all
secondary legislation and/or implementing regulations. The
twelve laws, at various stages of the drafting process, are:
law on foreigners, law on travel documents, law on asylum,
law on the place of residence, law on explosives, law on
private security services, law on citizenship, law on
borders, law on police, and law on police inspectorate. Two
related laws being drafted by other ministries are the law on
data protection and the law on vetting and classification of
data (reftel). These laws are essential to establishing a
strong legal framework in Kosovo governing the movement of
foreigners, citizenship, and Kosovo's internal security.


13. (C) Comment: The MIA has responsibility for some of the
most critical areas of Kosovo's national security, as well as
those that bear on U.S. counter-terrorism interests. As it
assumes additional, more sensitive functions from UNMIK,
assistance and vigilance by USOP and other international
actors will be essential to ensure the proper legal framework
is in place, backed by an institutional capability to
implement it.


14. (SBU) Our DOJ/ICITAP program, which will be expanded
considerably over the next year, will have the lead in these
areas. The first major component of our ICITAP program is the
Ministry of Internal Affairs Capacity Building project, which
will embed a senior advisor to work alongside the minister
and his staff to ensure effective operations and oversights
of the ministry, as well as acceptance and implementation of
international norms of policing. Another important program
initiative will be provision of a Border, Asylum and Refugee
advisor to the ministry, who will coordinate with border and
customs agencies, as well as the KPS Office of Foreigners, to
ensure security-based criteria for immigration. The third
major component of the ICITAP program will be the Rule of Law
Information Technology project. This project will link all
rule of law components (judiciary, prosecutors, and law
enforcement/security agencies) with a single source for
secure data retrieval and storage. End comment.
KAIDANOW