BOSNIA - ADMONISHING TIHIC TO SPLIT WITH SILAJDZIC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SARAJEVO 002031

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR (DICARLO),EUR/SCE (HOH/FOOKS),NSC FOR
BRAUN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/21/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCRM PINR EUN BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA - ADMONISHING TIHIC TO SPLIT WITH SILAJDZIC
ON POLICE REFORM

REF: SARAJEVO 1987

Classified By: CDA Judith B. Cefkin. Reasons 1.4 (B),(D)


1. (C) Summary: Charge delivered a strong message to SDA
President Sulejman Tihic to compromise on police reform so
that Bosnia-Herzegovina could initial a Stabilization and
Association Agreement with the EU. Tihic related his
negative views of the current OHR police reform protocol
(reftel) and insisted High Representative Miroslav Lajcak
would have to accept SDA-proposed changes. Tihic stressed
that without such concrete concessions he cannot break from
his party's joint position with Haris Silajdzic's SBiH.
Tihic specifically expressed concern about the RS role in the
budgeting process and how centralized the police command
structure would be in practice, but did not offer specific
proposals for addressing those concerns. At the technical
talks SDA has focused on going back to the Martens Report and
Police Reform Directorate Report, but this would involve
completely redrafting the Lajcak proposal, which OHR is
unprepared to do. Tihic will have to present something much
more reasonable to Lajcak if he has any intention of breaking
with Silajdzic and reaching a deal on police reform. End
Summary

Strong Message to Tihic
--------------


2. (C) Charge Judith B. Cefkin delivered a strong message to
SDA President Sulejman Tihic on the need to compromise on
police reform. In conjunction with the current OHR strategy
(reftel) to promote a police reform agreement, Charge
expressed US concern about SDA and SBiH joint criticism of
Lajcak's police reform proposal. Charge reiterated to Tihic
that failure to reach a police reform deal would mean a
negative progress report from the EC and prevent Bosnia's
initialing of a Stabilization and Associations Agreement for
a long period of time. She reiterated our support for the
Lajcak proposal. Tihic must choose between integration and
isolation. If he was interested in integration then he must
distance himself from SBiH's hard-line stance on police
reform and support the Lajcak proposal.

Tihic on the Lajcak Plan
--------------


3. (C) Tihic explained that he genuinely thinks the Lajcak
proposal is a bad plan that steps away from the three EC
principles and legalizes 80% of the existing police
structure. He fears that the convoluted plan including
provisions for consensus and ethic voting would not be
functional in practice. He also lamented the plan's many
concessions to the RS including giving the RS National
Assembly a role in budgeting as well as allowing an
additional layer of police administration in the RS. Tihic
also fears that Assistant Police Directors for local police
areas on RS, Federation, and Brcko District territories will
in fact run their police areas independently rather than take
orders from the State-Level police Director.


4. (C) Since Tihic himself does not believe in the Lajcak
plan, he says he cannot defend it to others. However, he
plans to meet High Representative Lajcak on September 22 and
will present SDA suggestions for improvement. Tihic asserted
that he could only break with Silajdzic over police reform if
he had concrete reasons to do so, such as OHR acceptance of
SDA improvements for police reform. Tihic lamented that he
lost the last election due to his willingness to compromise
and that the ordinary voters support Silajdzic, including his
current opposition to the Lajcak plan. Tihic stressed that
the SAA is important but it would be a mistake to legalize a
poor policing structure, which we be the first time since
Dayton that such a poor solution was legalized. He also
raised the issue of post-war crimes and failings of the RS
police, including attempts to hide mass graves and failure to
catch those who murdered returnees.

Comment
--------------


5. (C) Tihic understood the implications of our message and
seemed to be torn between his desire to go forward for the

SARAJEVO 00002031 002 OF 002


sake of the SAA and his fear of backlash from acceding to a
plan he views as flawed. If Tihic plans to seek major
changes to the Lajcak plan, which he knows are unlikely to be
accepted, he may be attempting to shift the blame for failure
of police reform talks onto the HighRep. Even if some
changes were accepted, it is still unclear to us if he would
break from Silajdzic, as his has failed to deliver on similar
promises in the past. We will continue to engage
interlocutors from SDA and other parties to support the
urgent conclusion of a police reform deal. End Comment

Note on Tihic's Health
--------------


6. (C) Despite having had hip replacement surgery two weeks
ago, Tihic seemed alert, in good spirits and able to walk
quite well with the help of a crutch. He related that he had
suffered hip problems for some time, an operation received
years ago in Belgrade had not helped, and that mistreatment
in a Serb concentration camp during the war exacerbated his
hip problem. He explained that he had been in excruciating
pain for several months after overexerting himself at the
Srebrenica peace march in July. He told us that his doctor,
marveling at Tihic's ability to quietly put up with pain and
suffering, exclaimed that this was surely a reason Alija
Izebegovic had deemed Tihic as his successor. Tihic said he
felt better although still had trouble sleeping at night due
to pain. End Note on Tihic's Health.
CEFKIN