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agreement was out of date given the current security and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
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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zone out of date, and said there was no longer any security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
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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
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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
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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