KOSOVO, IRAN AND COUNTERTERRORISM DOMINATE A/S

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ZAGREB 000281

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR IO, EUR/SCE, EUR/PGI AND EUR/PPD; NSC FOR
BRAUN; OSD FOR WINTERNITZ

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV HR KO UN
SUBJECT: KOSOVO, IRAN AND COUNTERTERRORISM DOMINATE A/S
SILVERBERG'S CONSULTATIONS WITH CROATIANS ON UNSC ISSUES

Classified By: Chris Rhoton, POL/ECON, Reasons 1.4 B/D


1. SUMMARY: (U) Assistant Secretary for International
Organizations Kristen Silverberg visited Croatia on March
17-18 to discuss United Nations Security Council issues. The
A/S held working meetings with senior officials from the MFA
and the Offices of the President and Prime Minister, as well
as outreach events with students of Croatia's Diplomatic
Academy and representatives from Croatia's opposition parties
and academic community. The visit highlighted the strong
cooperation thus far between the U.S. and the GoC on the
UNSC, and Croatian officials expressed their commitment to
work closely with the U.S. and EU to address the difficult
issues facing the Council in the coming months. The GoC
identified Kosovo and Iran as among the most pressing issues
on the Council's agenda. Both countries also hope to
re-energize the UN's Counterterrorism Committee, which
Croatia currently leads. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) In a brief initial meeting, FM Goran Jandrokovic,
told A/S Silverberg that the GoC was very satisfied with how
its UNSC term was going so far. Croatia remains absolutely
committed to coordinating its stances with the EU and the
U.S. In the subsequent working sessions, Pjer Simunovic,
Assistant Minister for International Organizations and
Security Affairs, commented that Croatia's two months of UNSC
experience had reassured him that "there is hope for
multilateralism in the world" given the effective P-5
consensus on the majority of the issues facing the UNSC.

KOSOVO, B-H
--------------


3. (C) Regarding Kosovo, Simunovic stressed that any
deterioration in the situation on the ground would be a
disaster and would threaten regional stability. He added
that Croatia recalled its own experiences with roadblocks,
and attempts by local Serb populations to seek partition.
The international community needs to "stand firm." The
upcoming May 11 parliamentary elections in Serbia would be a
referendum on the country's future, and Simunovic expressed
the need for the international community to support the
democratic forces seeking stronger ties to the West.
Simunovic, citing his recent consultations in Moscow, also
said he believed Belgrade had miscalculated Russia's long
term interest in Kosovo, and that the Serbian people would
ultimately be disappointed when Russia's support wanes in
favor of other strategic goals.


4. (C) Simunovic also stressed that the GoC viewed Kosovo as
a unique situation and rejected any attempts to use it as a
precedent for other independence movements, particularly in
neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina. In B-H, Simunovic said the
GoC fully supported High Rep Lajcak. While Croatia was
keenly aware of the need to accommodate all three constituent
nations' political existence, "the imperative is to keep
Bosnia-Herzegovina together." Davor Steir, foreign policy
advisor to PM Sanader, stressed that B-H was another place
that needed a firm position from the international community,
particularly in regards to the actions of the Republika
Srpska leadership.

IRAN AND THE IAEA
--------------


5. (C) Simunovic said the GoC very much appreciated the good
cooperation among the EU3 and the P5 on Iran issues. He
noted that recent sanctions against Iran had been adopted
into Croatia's legal framework, and expressed support for
keeping pressure on Iran to make its nuclear program fully
transparent. Mario Horvatic, Croatia's representative on the
International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of
Governors, was, however, somewhat critical of recent
developments in Vienna, and urged better coordination among
"like-minded" governments. He explained that many "allies"
of the U.S. were blind-sided by the recent technical briefing
by Deputy Director General for Safeguards Heinonen. He said
the GoC understood the need for some measure of secrecy in
the run-up to the briefing, but that support for various
proposals would be more likely if there were fewer surprises.
In this instance, since there was no opportunity to prepare,
the Croatian rep had ended up staying silent, which was
"awkward." Another specific concern was to avoid any
appearance the West is presenting Iran with a moving target.
When Iran cooperates on one issue, "green salt" for example,

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a "new" issue like polonium is given primacy. He argued the
Iranians were exploiting this perception to gain sympathy
among IAEA board members, especially when some of the issues
are not well understood by all IAEA members. Noting that
securing support among IAEA members was in some ways more
complicated than even at the UNSC, Horvatic felt it was
critical, when possible, to collate available information and
place all outstanding issues on the table at the same time.
He also noted his wish that, from Croatia's perspective,
coordination could be improved between the EU3 and the
overall EU. He claimed that a recent EU-wide statement had
been too distinct from the contemporaneous EU3 statement,
with the EU Presidency's comments too "watered down." In a
subsequent session, Tomislav Jakic, foreign policy advisor to
President Mesic noted that the GoC places great importance on
the role of the IAEA in maintaining pressure on Iran. Jakic
noted that Mesic was willing to serve as a channel of
communication to the Iranian regime, but was also not going
to be "used" by Tehran as a tool to claim that Iran had good
relations with the West. Ahemdi-Nejad regularly invited
Mesic to visit Tehran, but Jakic said no such visit would
occur until Iran met its international obligations and
stopped threatening Israel.

COUNTERTERRORISM COMMITTEE, AFGHANISTAN, AND OTHER ISSUES
-------------- --


6. (C) Regarding the Counterterrorism Committee, which
Croatia now chairs, A/S Silverberg urged Croatia to consider
efforts to give the body a more active and relevant role,
perhaps through streamlining reporting requirements or
organizing visits to countries needing help and encouragement
in meeting the reporting requirements. Simunovic said the
GoC strongly supported re-energizing the CTC, and fully
agreed with an effort to streamline reporting. But he also
noted that such efforts would most likely bear fruit if they
were not perceived as "intrusive". Croatia wants to pursue a
"dual track" approach that would focus both on making
"repressive" measure effective, but also addressing the root
causes of terrorism and be a "helping hand" rather than a
burden to countries who cooperate with the committee.
Another key issue would be to determine which countries could
productively benefit from more CTC attention. Simunovic
noted that they had seen some country visits that did not
make much sense because there were no serious
terrorism-related issues to discuss in the country visited.


7. (C) Discussion of CT issues led naturally to talk of
Afghanistan and Iraq. The GoC views Afghanistan as the
country's primary contribution to the international
community. They saw little progress in Afghanistan as
compared to Iraq, and expressed hope the UN would take a more
visible role in the country. Simunovic noted that the GoC
still had under consideration a proposal for Croatia to
assume the leadership of a PRT. GoC representatives vowed
the country would stand firm in its commitment to Afghanistan
even if Croatian forces in the region suffered a casualty.
Though non-specific, the GoC claimed to have a contingency
plan for dealing with the likely public outcry under such
circumstances.


8. (C) Rounding out the exchange, the GoC noted they would
be contributing troops to the UN's peacekeeping efforts in
the Golan Heights. The GoC also expressed support for UN
efforts in both Burma and Sudan. On both issues, the GoC
representatives were interested in the U.S. assessment of the
role China would likely play in efforts to resolve both
crises. Regarding Africa, Simunovic also solicited U.S.
views for the ideas floated by South Africa on cooperation
between the UN and regional organizations such as the African
Union. Simunovic took A/S Silverberg's point regarding
concerns that the proposal was not only about better
coordination between the organizations, which the U.S.
supports, but also about allowing the AU to tap into regular
UN budget resources, which the U.S. opposes. Simunovic said
he had heard similar concerns from the UK. He added that
Croatia was still thinking about possible themes for its
first session as UNSC president in December.


9. (U) A/S Silverberg has cleared this report.
Bradtke