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
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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
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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
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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