KOSOVO: UN SECRETARY GENERAL GIVES ITALY RIGHT

C O N F I D E N T I A L ROME 000817 SIPDIS SIPDIS NOFORN DEPT FOR EUR/SCE AND IO/UNDP E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/19/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV UNSC YI SR IT SUBJECT: KOSOVO: UN SECRETARY GENERAL GIVES ITALY RIGHT MESSAGE REF: ROME 779 Classified By: Classified by Jonathan R. Cohen, Acting Political Minist er Counselor, for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C/NF) Leonardo Bencini of the UN office of the Italian MFA told poloff that during an April 18 visit to Rome, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon told Italian FM D'Alema that he SIPDIS fully supported the recommendations by UNOSEK Ahtisaari and asked Italy to work in conjunction with other EU nations to encourage non-EU UNSC members, particularly Russia, to adopt the plan. Moon stressed the importance of convincing Russia that Kosovo situation is unique and would not set a precedent in former Soviet territories. He noted that the US would hold the presidency of the UNSC in May and would place a high priority on early action. D'Alema told Moon that he supported the UNOSEK recommendations and hoped the upcoming UNSC fact-finding mission to Pristina and Belgrade would help clarify the positions of Indonesia, South Africa and China. ¶2. (C/NF) In a press conference after the meeting, D'Alema and Moon noted that they had discussed the Kosovo issue but did not issue any public statement on the content of their Kosovo discussions. Spogli