OSCE MISSION HEAD OPTIMISTIC ON CLOSURE, FLEXIBLE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ZAGREB 000399

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL OSCE HR REGIONAL AFFAIRS
SUBJECT: OSCE MISSION HEAD OPTIMISTIC ON CLOSURE, FLEXIBLE
ON TIMING


(U) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: OSCE Mission Head Fuentes told the
diplomatic corps April 11 that he is optimistic about
completing work on the mission's mandate and closing the
mission. Noting that four of six mandate-related files are
closed (Media, political freedom, police reform and civil
society),Fuentes said he would not "close the doors" until
further progress is achieved in two other areas (refugee
returns and reintegration, and rule of law/war-crimes
monitoring). He predicted that all but war-crimes
monitoring, which involves a time-consuming building of NGO
capacity, would be completed by the end of the year. Fuentes
also reported that he had briefed Prime Minister Sanader on
progress toward mission closure, and the PM clearly
acknowledged the need to engage actively on these issues.


2. (SBU) Fuentes has not given up on Mission closure, but the
earful he got in Vienna in early April and the regular
opposition of a small but vocal group of local Ambassadors
has led him to change his strategy. He is now working to
build more understanding of and support for mission closure.
A small residual presence to continue capacity-building for
war-crimes monitoring may be the compromise needed to
reassure doubters, including small Embassies which use the
OSCE as a "free" source of information from the field, while
acknowledging enormous progress made by the GOC on the other
issues and allowing both sides to declare victory. Septel
will report discussion of these issues in most recent session
of the "3 1" (OSCE, UNHCR, EC and U.S. Ambassador) with
Minister Kalmeta. END SUMMARY AND COMMENT


3. (U) OSCE Head of Mission Jorge Fuentes invited all
resident Ambassadors (including non-OSCE members) to an April
11 briefing to discuss the OSCE mission's mandate and recent
developments. Fuentes summarized his recent Vienna trip and
spoke reassuringly in terms of not setting a date for mission
closure until additional progress has been made on
mandate-related issues. Expressing optimism, Fuentes noted
that four of six mission units dealing with these issues have
been closed (those dealing with the Media, Political issues,
Police reform, and Civil Society) and the final two (Rule of
Law and Return and Reintegration) are proceeding well.


4. (U) On the final two units, Fuentes broke down the
mandate-related work as follows:

-- Refugees: A GOC plan for "completion" exists, providing
housing to refugees who currently wish to return and keeping
the door open for others. The GOC will purchase 400
apartments outside the war-affected "Area of Special State
Concern" (ASSC) and 1000 inside ASSC by the end of 2007.
This is only a beginning of the process, Fuentes emphasized,
but we need to see "an irreversible trend" in order to close
down.

-- Sarajevo Declaration: Fuentes listed outstanding issues as
convalidation (pension credit for returnees who were employed
under the rebel-Serb administrations),the law on foreigners
(easing the requirements for proving Croatian citizenship),
unsolicited investment in refugee property during their
absence, and the war crimes indictees list (currently being
reviewed by the office of the chief state prosecutor, this
affects some 1,100 individuals). The SD process is largely
finished, he noted, or at least progressing. Compensation
for those who once occupied socialize housing (holders of
"Occupancy-tenancy rights" or OTR) who do not wish to return
is a bilateral topic between GOC and Bosnia and Serbia.
(Note: Regional OSCE missions disagree on this issue. OTR
was handled differently in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for
example, but there is no universal agreement on how to
compensate former OTR holders. The GOC has committed to
provide housing to any former OTR holder who wishes to return
to Croatia and whose pre-war housing is no longer available;
the OSCE mission here, and the Embassy, see this as an
adequate response. End Note).

-- Rule of Law: Fuentes emphasized that the Mission's
mandate is to create institutional capacity, which is largely
completed by four main accomplishments: OSCE reinforced the
Constitutional Court for human rights concerns and helped
establish the Ombudsman. Funding for both will be picked up
fully by the GOC later this year. The law providing for Free
Legal Aid should be passed in July, and National Minorities
Law, although slow to be implemented, is under review. OSCE
will hold another roundtable to further attention on the
issue.

-- War crimes monitoring: Fuentes distinguished between "11
bis cases" transferred from the ICTY to Croatian courts
(Ademi-Norac) and the more than 200 domestic trials being
monitored. The GOC has suggested a panel of international
jurists who could monitor trials, but this would apply only

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to ICTY transfer cases (11 bis and category 2 and 3 - about
seven cases) rather than domestic ones. For domestic cases
(as suggested by the U.S. Embassy),the OSCE is considering
how to reinforce NGO capacity and provide training to judges
on war crimes cases. Knowledge transfer is slow and
difficult. Fuentes reminded his audience that the OSCE's
agreement with ICTY to monitor cases applies only as long as
the OSCE presence remains. Of all the above issues, Fuentes
estimated that this is the only one that cannot be completed
by the end of the year.


5. (SBU) Fuentes reported that he had met PM Sanader earlier
in the day, at the PM's request, to discuss the OSCE's
mandate and how the GOC can make more progress. Fuentes said
he provided the following targets: 1) OTR apartments outside
and inside ASSC (400 1000;) 2) a solution to the
convalidation problem; 3) improved National Minorities law
implementation, specifically requesting the PM's
participation at OSCE's May 4 Roundtable; and 4) better GOC
communication with local administration on policies set
determined in Zagreb. Fuentes said he was confident the
refugee-related items would be resolved by the end of the
year, and once again received the PM's commitment to solve
the convalidation problem. Fuentes later told poloff that
the PM mentioned several times A/S Fried's points on the need
to make progress toward Mission closure, and understood the
importance of his role in it.


6. (U) Fuentes emphasized that there will be some type of
OSCE presence in 2008, but it could be very minimal (possibly
only administrative to close the office). The mission has
already downsized significantly, from 750 full-time employees
in 2001, to 214 in 2005, to 147 currently. Perhaps thirty to
forty may remain into 2008. He listed several key dates for
the Mission in 2007:
April: program outline for 2008 budget. Fuentes will prepare
for a "flexible" mission, requesting funding for 2008, which
can be returned if necessary.
July: semi-annual report on Croatia; possible visit by PM
Sanader to Vienna.
September - budget discussions.
November - Ministerial Council in Spain.
BRADTKE