BOSNIA: POLICE REFORM TALKS FALTER AS EC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SARAJEVO 000552

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/07/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV KCRM KJUS PINR EUN BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA: POLICE REFORM TALKS FALTER AS EC
COMMISSIONER VISIT LOOMS

REF: A. SARAJEVO 492


B. SARAJEVO 456

C. SARAJEVO 444

SARAJEVO 00000552 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Ambassador Douglas L. McElhaney for reasons 1.4 (b) and
(d)


1. (SBU) Summary: The German Embassy March 6 hosted police
reform negotiations with the leaders of eight major political
parties in the hopes of facilitating agreement on police
reform in anticipation of the March 16 visit of EU
Commissioner for Enlargement Oli Rehn. Ambassadors from the
US, Germany and the UK along with OHR Principal Deputy High
Rep helped the meeting participants clarify contentious
issues in order to reach a compromise. Party leaders
appeared close to signing a statement giving their approval
to the Police Reform Directorate (PRD) Final Report, with the
understanding that discussions on local police areas would be
held later. However, the talks broke down, hampered by
discussion of the recent ICJ verdict, calls for assigning
special district status to Srebrenica and Serb unwillingness
to adopt the report without adding stipulations to guarantee
the continued existence of the Republika Srpska (RS) police.
RS Prime Minister (and SNSD President) Milorad Dodik backed
away from his previously stated willingness to accept the PRD
report, saying he would not accept the police reform package
absent a guarantee the RS police would remain. We, Germany,
UK, and OHR will engage in a series of bilateral meetings
with the party leaders in the next few days to try to
persuade party leaders to accept the PRD report. End Summary


2. (U) The German Embassy March 6 hosted police reform
negotiations with the leaders of eight major political
parties in the hopes of facilitating agreement on police
reform based on the PRD final report. The U.S., German, and
UK Ambassadors, along with OHR PDHR attended the meeting with
leaders of Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD),
Party of Democratic Action (SDA),Party for BiH (SBiH),Serb
Democrat Party (SDS),Croatian Democratic Union-1990
(HDZ-1990),Croatian Democratic Union BiH (HDZ-BiH),Social
Democratic Party (SDP),and Party of Democratic Progress
(PDP). We hoped to build on the progress toward consensus on
the PRD report reached at a recent meeting with a smaller
group of party leaders held in Banja Luka (Ref A). To this
end we provided the meeting participants with a draft text of
a joint statement intended to codify their acceptance of the
PRD report.

International Ambassadors promote Consensus Building
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3. (U) The German Ambassador reminded party leaders that the
completion of a police reform agreement meant coming closer
to the EU. Ambassador and PDHR (Gregorian) reminded party
leaders that accepting the PRD report required compromise on
all sides and said there was room to finalize details on
local police bodies in a second phase of negotiations between
initialing the SAA and signing it. The UK Ambassador noted
that Commissioner Rehn was coming to Sarajevo in nine days
and hoped to celebrate Bosnia's concrete progress toward
Europe, but that would require a police reform agreement
first. Ambassadors stated their desire to build on the March
1 talks in Banja Luka, at which some party leaders agreed to
accept the PRD Final Report.

SNSD, Backed by PDP, shies away from Agreement
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4. (U) Serb PDP President Ivanic asserted he could approve
the PRD report if the question of internal police structures
would be discussed later, but insisted that the other party
leaders give him a guarantee that accepting the report did
not automatically constitute agreement to abolish the RS
police. Dodik insisted at first that he needed written
language guaranteeing retention of the RS police in order to
accept the report. Without such guarantees he said, he would
not sign the joint statement accepting the report. Later, he
asserted that he would reject all the state-level reforms in
the PRD report unless the RS police was retained. He added
that the RS National Assembly and the RS voters would support
him in this. Serb SDS President Bosic refused to accept the
PRD report, saying he disagreed with the methodology of the
PRD and considered the report invalid. He commented on his
surprise that SNSD and PDP were considering any compromise,
as that went against the campaign promises they had made to
the people of the RS.

SDP Hardline on Abolishing RS police

SARAJEVO 00000552 002 OF 002


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5. (U) SDP President Zlatko Lagumdzija commented that since
his party was not in government, -- there was no need for his
approval, -- but added that he would not accept the PRD
report. He asserted that he could not agree to any police
reform that would leave open the possibility of retaining the
RS police, as members of the RS police were cited in the
recent ICJ verdict as having participated in the genocide
committed in Srebrenica (Ref B). He also expressed concern
that even if all parties accept the PRD report now and
initial the SAA, he thought it unlikely the parties could
reach agreement later on the organization of local police
bodies.

Most Bosniak and Croat Parties Willing to Accept Report As Is
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6. (U) SBiH President Haris Silajdzic said that although
accepting the PRD report would mean a significant compromise
for his party, he urged all present to accept the report as
written so that the SAA could be initialed. SDA President
Sulejman Tihic expressed his willingness to accept the report
"with all its deficiencies" with the goal of fixing those
gaps in later phases of police reform implementation.
However, he made several divisive comments on the ICJ verdict
and the situation in Srebrenica while also stating his view
that in the end, the RS police must be abolished. The
leaders of both Croat HDZ parties sought to promote consensus
on accepting the report. HDZ-1990 President Ljubic asserted
that the report provides a broad basis for future work on
police reform implementation that will last five years,
during which time we will be working on reaching agreement
and public opinion will be changing in our constituencies.

Follow up Steps to Reach Consensus
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7. (SBU) Despite last minute changes to the joint political
statement in order to make it acceptable to all parties,
Dodik, Bosic, Ivanic, and Lagumdzija refused to sign. The
meeting ended when Dodik and Ivanic left to attend another
meeting before returning to Banja Luka. In a continuing
effort to promote a police reform agreement by March 16,
Ambassador and his German and UK colleagues said they would
privately engage Dodik to compromise. PDHR Gregorian plans
to visit Dodik in Banja Luka in the next few days while also
reaching out to other party leaders over the weekend.

Comment
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8. (C) The police reform talks failed largely because Milorad
Dodik backed away from his March 1 commitment to accept the
PRD report. He may believe that he can secure further
concessions from the EU by playing hardball. SDS's hardline
and implicit threat to highlight Dodik's failure to honor one
of his campaign promises, if he accepts the report, may also
explain Dodik's about face. Unlike in some previous
meetings, Silajdzic was constructive, as were the two Croat
parties. Lagumdzija continued his party's tactic of putting
the onus on Bosniak and Croat parties in government to cut
unsavory deals with the RS on this and other issues . We
will continue to press political leaders to reach consensus
before Rehn's arrival on March 16, but Dodik and the
political fall out from the ICJ verdict make meeting this
deadline almost impossible. END COMMENT
MCELHANEY