KOSOVO: STRPCE STABLE FOR NOW, BUT TENSION MAY BE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000130

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SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/07/2018
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL KV UNMIK
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: STRPCE STABLE FOR NOW, BUT TENSION MAY BE
GROWING

Classified By: Chief of Mission Tina S. Kaidanow for Reasons 1.4 (b),(
d).


1. (C) SUMMARY. Serb KPS in Strpce remain on the job
primarily out of fear that Albanian police would take over if
they leave the force. Strpce's civil servants are also
staying at work for similar reasons. Despite this, tension
is still evident, along with the number of demonstrators at
the daily protest downtown at 1244. Strpce CEO Radica
Grbic's message to the Kosovo government and the
international community is "leave us alone" and avoid
pressuring the Serbs into doing anything they cannot do.
Despite this, she echoed hopes held by many of Kosovo's Serbs
that UNMIK would stay on as a "bridge" between Serbs and
Albanians, but like Kosovo Serbs elsewhere, had no
alternative to offer when asked what her community would do
in UNMIK's absence. Cooperation with the new ICO/EULEX
missions is still ruled out by local Serb leaders, but
neither she nor Strpce Mayor Stanko Jakovljevic is happy with
the behavior of Government of Serbia officials; Jakovljevic
has warned KFOR of "infiltrators" from Serbia present in his
municipality. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) For the moment, Kosovo Serb members of the Kosovo
Police Force (KPS) remain on the job in Serb-majority Strpce
municipality, even as their Serb brethren in central Kosovo
have left the force. According to UNMIK CivPol officer
Teresa Pyle (protect),who has monitored the Strpce KPS force
for almost two years, the key motivation for staying on the
job is not a sense of allegiance to UNMIK or disagreement
with Belgrade. According to both Pyle and confirmed by
Strpce CEO Radica Grbic in a seperate meeting March 6, there
is widespread fear in the community that an Albanian KPS unit
from nearby Ferizaj/Urosevac, which was involved in a
controversial police raid in Stprce in April 2007, would
enter the enclave to police it should the local officers
depart. The municipality is behind this decsion, which to
Pyle is an indication of Belgrade's support.


3. (C) Pyle also advocates a more hands-off policy by UNMIK
CIVPOL and said she recommended they not exert too much
pressure and allow Serb KPS to make their own decision to
stay on the job. Grbic said that she and Stprce Mayor Stanko
Jakovljevic (a member of Serbian President Tadic's DS party)
have also been working with the local police commander to
keep the KPS on the job. Pyle and Grbic both said that the
withdrawal of Serb KPS from a larger,
geographically-contiguous enclave such as Strpce would create
a "big hole" in KPS coverage, unlike the smaller enclaves in
central Kosovo from which Serb officers have withdrawn in
recent days. Such a gap would necessitate swift compensatory
action from KPS headquarters.


4. (C) Strpce Serbs continue to resist independence in
various ways, all of them peaceful to date. Grbic said that
Serb employees in the municipal government have continued to
come to work, but in order to maintain a "boycott" of Kosovo
institutions, they are not doing much of anything. As with
the police, Grbic told us that the Serb presence in the
municipal building has been maintained in order to prevent a
"takeover" by Strpce's minority Albanian community. Daily
protests continue to take place in the center of town at
12:44 p.m. Pyle told us that beginning the week of March 3,
the protests have grown larger and more organized each day,
although no incidents have occurred. Some middle-aged men
have joined the protests in recent days, bolstering the
normally-young crowd.


5. (C) Grbic insisted, however, that despite the current
apparent calm, tension runs deep among local Serbs. She told
us that "if we lose control over the KPS, everyone will leave
Strpce," although she praised US KFOR and reiterated her
confidence in KFOR's ability to protect Serbs. As many Serbs
have since February 17, Grbic insisted that cooperation was
possible with international donors and UNMIK, and like many
Kosovo Serbs elsewhere had no alternative solution for when
what might happen if/when UNMIK left the scene. In her

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words, "we don't get anything from Pristina and they don't
need anything from us, so why can't they leave us alone?"
Cooperation with ICO/EULEX was not an option. At the same
time Grbic pleaded with us not to "abandon" Strpce, she did
not appear ready to offer any constructive solutions. She
also made several strongly-worded appeals to the
"international community" not to place any pressure on the
Strpce Serbs to do anything.


6. (C) Unlike past meetings, Grbic was open to a limited
discussion of the Serbian Government's influence and activity
in the area. According to Grbic, Jakovljevic is under
pressure from hardline forces in Belgrade. She described the
visit to Strpce of Serbian Minister for Kosovo Slobodan
Samardzic on January 18 as "scary," and complained about his
verbal lashing of Jakovljevic at a meeting of CCK and DSS
officials.


7. (C) While figures like Grbic, Mayor Jakovljevic, and the
local KPS seem to be acting reasonably for now, reports from
USKFOR indicate that other actors in Strpce may have
different intentions. At a private meeting held at Camp
Bondsteel on February 23, Jakovljevic reported to USKFOR
POLAD that there were 10-15 "infiltrators" in Strpce, who had
come from Serbia and who could cause trouble. He is worried
that these actors might manufacture an incident, even going
so far as to attack the municipal building or local branches
of Serbian banks (through which funds come from Belgrade) in
an attempt to cause an exodus of Serbs. In his opinion,
whether they stay loyal to the KPS or not, the local KPS
would not be capable of protecting these sites if they came
under attack. On March 6, USKFOR POLAD told us that
Jakovljevic had come to Camp Bondsteel again and revealed
several names of these infiltrators, including a retired
Serbian MUP colonel who was last in Strpce in 1999.
Jakovljevic also said that since February 17 he has sought
guidance from senior figures in the DS party structure.

COMMENT


8. (C) Things in Strpce are calm for the moment, but the
factors contributing to that calm are fluid and can change,
particularly if Belgrade's attitude hardens even further.
Echoing the refrain we have heard from many other Serbs in
the weeks since independence, Radica Grbic maintains that
UNMIK can be the only "legitimate" bridge between Kosovo
Serbs and the Kosovo Government going forward, which is not a
viable long-term plan of action. We will continue our
contacts and urge ICO to attempt to develop its own contacts
in Strpce and elsewhere in the enclaves, to the extent that
anyone is willing or able to talk freely with them. END
COMMENT.
KAIDANOW