BOSNIA: DEFENSE MINISTER DISCUSSES COALITION

C O N F I D E N T I A L SARAJEVO 001929

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR (DICARLO),EUR/SCE (HOH, FOOKS),EUR/RPM
DOD FOR CAGAN, FATA, BEIN
USNIC FOR WIGHTMAN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/07/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR MARR BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA: DEFENSE MINISTER DISCUSSES COALITION
DEPLOYMENTS, NATO INTEGRATION, DEFENSE REFORM

REF: SARAJEVO 1563

Classified By: DCM Judith Cefkin for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

SUMMARY
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1. (C) Ambassador paid a farewell call on Bosnian Minister of
Defense Selmo Cikotic September 5, highlighting the
importance of Bosnia's continued support for coalition
operations, and the necessity to finish the defense reform
agenda in order to make the country a credible candidate for
NATO membership. The Ambassador raised the issue of the
Bosnian Armed Forces undertaking counter-improvised explosive
device (c-IED) training, a suggestion the Minister accepted.
For his part, Cikotic requested USG input on the Ministry of
Defense's draft peace support operations plan that would
outline future Bosnian overseas deployments. The Minister
also discussed the possibility of donating surplus Bosnian
tanks to the Iraqi Army, and asked for a formal request if we
were serious about arranging a donation. End Summary.

Iraq/Coalition Deployments
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2. (C) The Ambassador stressed the importance of maintaining
Bosnia's contributions to peace support operations and
looking for opportunities in the near-term to expand on the
deployments. The Ambassador noted the positive example set
by the Bosnian Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit, which
has served alongside coalition forces for over two years.
Cikotic stated his strong support for this position, and told
the Ambassador the MOD was preparing a draft plan for peace
support operations that would outline Bosnia's potential
contributions for the coming years. Cikotic said he hoped to
have the plan submitted to the Presidency for approval by the
end of October, and requested USG advice and guidance on
proposed niche capable units and deployments that the Armed
Forces could undertake. Cikotic stated that the time was
right to consider expansion of overseas missions, and he
would focus the Ministry and Bosnian Armed Forces on
developing additional deployable capabilities. In
particular, Cikotic said deployments must be viewed in the
context of Bosnia's PfP goals, and should include
participation in the Afghan or other NATO missions, military
police activities, and UN observer missions.


3. (C) The Ambassador again raised the possibility of the EOD
unit receiving counter-improvised explosive device (c-IED)
training to develop an important niche capacity within the
Armed Forces. The Ambassador stressed that such training
would not dictate a change in mission for the Bosnians in
Iraq, but would put the Bosnian Armed Forces in a position to
provide a valuable service if the political decision was
reached to take on a more dangerous activity in Iraq or
elsewhere. Cikotic stated his agreement with this point, and
told the Ambassador that c-IED training would be included in
the MOD's peace support operations plan. He stated that
training itself was not controversial, but a decision to
undertake a c-IED missionin Iraq could face political
opposition.

KEEP MOMENTUM ON DEFENSE REFORM
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4. (C) The Ambassador reminded Cikotic that Bosnia must
"remain focused" on it goal of NATO membership and use the
accession process to push forward the defense reform agenda.
Above all, the Ambassador said defense reform remained the
model for reform processes in Bosnia, and its success to date
was affirmation that effective state-level institutions could
be developed and function here. Despite recent negative
comments from RS Prime Minister Milorad Dodik about the Armed
Forces, the Ambassador noted the positive development that
the necessity for defense reform is largely uncontested by
the political leadership. The Ambassador said it was good to
keep a positive focus on defense reform and the military. The


MOD should be looking for opportunities to communicate this
message to the public, he concluded.


5. (C) Cikotic said that Bosnia is "proud that the US started
and supported defense reform" and affirmed that defense
reform showed that the path to NATO and EU must be through
the creation of viable and effective state-level
institutions. Cikotic expressed his belief that the best way
to "protect ethnic interests in Bosnia" is through building
state-level institutions that will benefit Bosniaks, Croats
and Serbs. Cikotic opined that Bosnia was ahead of the other
two recent PfP invitees, Serbia and Montenegro, in the PfP
process, a fact which had substantially raised morale in the
MOD and Armed Forces. In this context, Cikotic stressed that
it was time to capitalize on the positive momentum generated
by the process and "to move ahead of the NATO schedule" by
pushing the entire Bosnian government to meets its
obligations and commitments in the near-term.


6. (C) Cikotic informed the Ambassador that as part of this
strategy, the Ministry had already begun developing Bosnia's
first Individual Partnership Action Plan (IPAP) and scheduled
an inter-ministerial planning conference for mid-September to
make other government institutions aware of their
responsibilities as Bosnia moved closer to NATO, and expose
any gaps in the coordination. Cikotic expressed his "fear"
that the MOD was "ahead of the pack," but the Ministries of
Foreign Affairs and Security had to get a better grasp of
their obligations in the integration process. Cikotic also
informed the Ambassador that he had recently appointed Deputy
Defense Minister Igor Cranadak as Bosnia's first NATO/PfP
Coordinator. Crnadak will chair a senior-level
inter-ministerial coordination body that will maintain a
technical secretariat in the NATO HQ offices here. Cikotic
stressed that the creation of this body was further
indication that Bosnia was "serious about joining NATO."
(Comment. In our assessment, Crnadak is an excellent choice
for the coordinator position. End Comment.)

Defense Property
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7. (C) As one of the last major open elements of defense
reform, the Ambassador pushed the need to resolve the defense
property issues in the near-term (reftel). The Ambassador
stressed that the MOD was the prime stake-holder in this
process and needed to be involved in all discussions of the
defense property working group that will shortly meet to
finalize the transfer arrangement. Cikotic said he agreed,
and that he has backed off his previous distancing from the
dealings of the working group. Cikotic told the Ambassador
that he had just been informed that the MOD would represent
the COM at the discussions and would chair the meetings.
Cikotic said that he initially felt the MOD had been
purposely excluded from the defense property meetings but he
was prepared to engage now that the interests of the Ministry
and Bosnian Armed Forces were to be taken into account.
Cikotic noted that defense property was a highly political
issue, and he was somewhat leery of taking a position that
would inflame Dodik and the RS leadership but he would "not
back down" if the RS or any other party attempted to undercut
his bottom line-- that the military must take possession of
all items necessary for defense needs.

Surplus Arms and Ammunition, Tanks to Iraq?
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8. (C) The Ambassador engaged Cikotic in a lengthy discussion
over surplus arms and ammunition in Bosnia. The Ambassador
highlighted that the sheer volume of these surplus arms and
munitions posed a direct threat to local communities and
regional stability, and pushed the Minister to develop a
comprehensive approach to getting rid of the items through
sale, donation and destruction. Cikotic informed the
Ambassador that the Ministry was developing just such a plan,
and that he hoped to distribute it for review to interested
international parties in the near term. Cikotic affirmed that

the matter required a comprehensive approach, and said that
the removal of all surplus items from Bosnia was one of his
"highest priorities."


9. (C) In this context, Cikotic raised the possibility of
donating surplus M84 tanks to the Iraqi Army, a proposal we
had previously discussed with him informally. Cikotic said
he was only waiting for a formal request from us to begin the
legal process to approve the donation. Cikotic said that it
seemed reasonable to assume that Bosnia could donate
approximately 30 of the tanks, and he would take a leading
role in lobbying for their donation if a request was made.
The Ambassador pointed out that the donation would probably
draw political flak from the RS, as all the tanks were from
former Army of RS stockpiles. Cikotic indicated that he
thought the issue was manageable, especially if a counter
donation from former Federation stockpiles could be arranged.
Cikotic further requested that if the donation were to
occur, it be handled in a transparent manner to head-off any
political or media attacks that the items went to unintended
recipients.

Comment: Cikotic Presents a Window of Opportunity
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10. (C) In his first four months in office, Cikotic has
developed into one of our strongest bilateral partners.
During the farewell call with the Ambassador, Cikotic
presented the image of a strong leader prepared to expend
capital pushing forward the defense reform and NATO agenda.
Though, considering the political climate here, we do not
fully share Cikotic's optimism on the ease of securing
further coalition deployments, the donation of surplus
defense items, and the speeding up of the NATO integration
process, we certainly have a strong backer for our priorities
in the Ministry of Defense. Cikotic's stance on deployments
in particular has presented us an opportunity to develop
Bosnia's contributions to peace support operations.
Cikotic's request that we provide input to the deployment
plan allows us to shape future deployments toward our joint
priorities and should be taken seriously.
MCELHANEY