MACEDONIA: DUI'S AHMETI STILL WORRIED ON HAGUE

UNCLAS SKOPJE 000619 SENSITIVE SIPDIS C O R R E C T E D COPY CAPTION E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: NATO PGOV PHUM PREL KV AL MK SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: DUI'S AHMETI STILL WORRIED ON HAGUE CASES, ELECTION CHANGES REF: SKOPJE 607 ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Macedonian government is forming a task force to determine if the 2002 amnesty law should apply to the four cases returned to Macedonia by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY),ethnic Albanian DUI Party leader Ali Ahmeti told Ambassador Reeker in their first meeting October 3. Ahmeti claimed that he and PM Gruevski agreed that one expert from both the U.S. and the EU participate in the task force (the PM's Chief of Staff subsequently told us this was not true). Ahmeti also discussed his two favored options for the election of the president, new names that his party would oppose for Macedonia and marginalization of the Albanians by proposed changes to the electoral code. DUI still wants to see charges pressed for June's election violence. Ahmeti reported that he was baffled by a dispute that arose in Macedonia's recent leaders meeting over the name issue. End summary. GoM Trying to Sort Out the Amnesty Law and the ICTY Cases -------------- -------------- ¶2. (SBU) During their first meeting on October 3, Ahmeti told Ambassador Reeker that DUI and the Prime Minister had reached an agreement on the formation of a task force to evaluate the application of the 2002 amnesty law towards the four cases returned to Macedonia by ICTY. The task force will include Chief Prosecutor Svrotovski, Ombudsman and Former Minister of Justice Ixhet Memeti, Member of Prosecutor,s Council Faik Aslani and former DUI MP Adnan Jushari. Ahmeti claimed that the PM had also agreed to include one expert each from the U.S. and the EU and said that OSCE and possibly NATO participation would also be useful. (PM Gruevski's Chief of Staff told us Oct. 5 that this was not the case, and that the PM still opposed international participation in these talks--see reftel.) Ahmeti said the proceedings of the task force would not be made public and both sides agreed to accept its final decision. The Ambassador said that we are discussing these cases with our international allies and stressed that we seek a fair and transparent resolution of this issue. Name Issue: Solve It, Please -------------- ¶3. (SBU) DUI does not support names such as Slavic Republic of Macedonia, National Republic of Macedonia or Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia as acceptable for the e-Albanian community, adding that names that contain a geographical modifier, such as &Northern Macedonia,8 are not problematic. Ahmeti was adamant that e-Albanians' primary aspiration is membership in NATO and the EU and his party was in favor of taking the path of least resistance as long as the name did not include ethnic identifiers. Ahmeti made clear that continued impasse of Macedonia,s NATO membership would not bode well for interethnic relations. Bargaining on Presidential Elections and Minority Seats -------------- -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Parliamentary election of the President -- with Badinter voting -- or an election law change to include an e-Albanian deputy president are DUI,s two favored options to make future presidential elections more equitable to the Albanian community, said Ahmeti. The Ambassador reiterated that parliamentary election would be viewed as a step backwards in the eyes of the International Community. Ahmeti said e-Albanians currently have little stake in presidential elections and the inclusion of an Albanian candidate for deputy president on the ticket would encourage the full participation of the e-Albanian community. (Note: any change to the Presidential election system would require amending the constitution.) ¶5. (SBU) Ahmeti is most concerned about the proposed addition of ten minority seats for non-Albanian minorities in Parliament. If the proposed seats are granted votes under the Badinter system this would marginalize e-Albanian strength in Parliament. He is in favor of additional minority seats in Parliament but does not want them to be granted votes under Badinter and said he has asked those proposing the law for an explanation of how Albanian Badinter votes will be protected now and in the future. He has not received a reply. Justice for June Election Violence -------------- ¶6. (SBU) Ahmeti said many of the instigators of violence in the June elections were either protected by immunity laws or were in uniform and he still hopes that they will be tried for their crimes. He believes that unless they are brought to justice future elections will experience similar problems. A Bizarre Leaders Meeting -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Ahmeti said the Oct. 2 meeting of the leaders of the four major political parties started out well but then degenerated into an opaque debate between the opposition SDSM and ruling VMRO on the name issue. He was not entirely clear on the details of the debate but understood that the issue would be discussed again at the next leaders meeting when President Crvenkovski and name negotiator Dimitrov were expected to be present. Reeker