SERBIA ATTEMPTS TO REOPEN KUMANOVO MILITARY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BELGRADE 001231 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2018 TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR KV SR SUBJECT: SERBIA ATTEMPTS TO REOPEN KUMANOVO MILITARY TECHNICAL AGREEMENT Classified By: Bradford Bell, Deputy Political Chief; reasons 1.4 (b, d ). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Serbia's President and its Army Chief of Staff have publicly expressed their interest in revising the 1999 Kumanovo military technical agreement with NATO, stating the agreement was out of date given the current security and political environment. The agreement, signed in June 1999 at the end of hostilities in Kosovo, provided for the withdrawal of Serbian forces from Kosovo and established a demilitarized buffer zone along the administrative boundary line between Serbian and NATO forces. Our contacts in the government maintain that the public statements should not have come as a surprise, since Serbia has raised the issue with NATO officials in Brussels and Naples, and with Department of Defense officials in Washington. Though government sources insist that Serbia only wants to negotiate changes to very specific parts of the agreement, we believe the public statements were politically motivated, building on perceived momentum from the UNGA referral to the ICJ on Kosovo status. End Summary. Tadic: Time to Revise Kumanovo -------------- ¶2. (SBU) In a November 29 interview with the daily "Politika," Serbian President Boris Tadic said it was time to revise the Kumanovo agreement since Serbia had demonstrated that it was a factor of stability in the region. Tadic called certain provisions of the agreement such as the no fly zone out of date, and said there was no longer any security reason for such provisions. Serbian Army Chief of the General Staff Lt. General Zdravko Ponos, expanding on Tadic's comments, told the daily "Blic" newspaper on November 30 that the agreement "no longer makes sense" as there was no longer a need for a buffer zone between NATO and Serbian forces. Ponos cited the changing political environment, such as Serbia's decision to join NATO's Partnership for Peace, and the fact that there had been no breach of the boundary in recent years. Revisions would be Technical -------------- ¶3. (C) Contacts in both the Ministry of Defense and the Presidency told us on December 1 that Serbia's interest in revising the agreement had already been raised with NATO and in Washington, and that any changes would be solely technical. Ministry of Defense State Secretary Dusan Spasojevic said Serbia had very specific changes in mind for the agreement. Spasojevic noted the Air-Safety (coordinated flight) zone, which required President Tadic to seek COMKFOR permission when he wanted to fly to southern Serbia. He also said this was a hindrance during recent military exercises which Serbia conducted in the southern Serbia with Norway. "Kumanovo was signed when NATO and Serbian forces were two enemy forces; that is no longer the case," said Spasojevic. He said that Ponos had raised this issue with both SACEUR and JFC Naples in recent weeks. Spasojevic said that he had raised the issue himself with the Joint Staff when he was in Washington at the end of November. Serbia would like the issue to be discussed during Joint Staff talks in March 2009, Spasojevic said. President Tadic's senior international advisor, Jovan Ratkovic, confirmed to the Charge by telephone that these were Serbia's intentions, deferring to Spasojevic on details. Quint Reaction -------------- ¶4. (C) Quint Ambassadors were mostly united during their December 1 meeting on Tadic,s public announcement about Kumanova being political grandstanding. Only the Italian defended re-opening the agreement, saying the Serbian MOD probably had good reason to seek reviewing Kumanovo. The German Ambassador said he had cabled to Berlin his recommendation that the Europeans "not give an inch," on Kumanovo until the Serbian Government had something concrete to show on supporting EULEX deployment. "They,re playing salami politics," he said, "slicing off first the ICJ, then the six points, and now this." Charge noted that in her talk with Spasojevic, he had mentioned raising the issue during the Joint Staff talks in March, and Quint Ambassadors generally agreed the Serbs would need to demonstrate good will with EULEX deployment by that time. BELGRADE 00001231 002 OF 002 Comment -------------- ¶5. (C) Although we understand why Serbia hopes to revisit certain portions of the Kumanovo agreement eventually, it was remarkably ill-advised for Tadic and Ponos to raise the issue publicly at such a delicate juncture. No issue related to Kosovo can be purely "technical" in Serbia. We have encouraged the Serbs to refrain from raising Kumanovo again until at least next spring. End Comment. BRUSH