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 �A; -------------- ¶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. PRISTINA 00000698 002 OF 003 ¶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 PRISTINA 00000698 003 OF 003 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