ZAGREB WEEKLY ACTIVITY REPORT - JANUARY 23, 2008

UNCLAS ZAGREB 000048 SIPDIS SIPDIS FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/PPD, EUR/RPM AND EUR/ERA OSD FOR WINTERNITZ E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV MARR ECON HR SUBJECT: ZAGREB WEEKLY ACTIVITY REPORT - JANUARY 23, 2008 ¶1. (U) EMBASSY PROVIDES HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE TO ROMA REFUGEES: On January 18, the DCM visited the village of Petrinjci near Sisak to deliver a donation from the U.S. Ambassador's Refugee Fund to seven Roma families. The donation, worth 50,000 Kuna ($10,000),provides legal assistance plus small tools and equipment to help create self-sufficiency and sustainability for this small community. Prior to the war, this vulnerable group of approximately 33 people lived in the Capraske poljane settlement in houses built without permits, electricity, water or sewage service. Following the war, the families were housed in a government operated collective center outside Sisak. Upon closing of the collective center in 2007, the governement of Croatia provided state-owned housing to many of the refugee families but most were left without a means of earning a living. The Sisak based NGO, Civil Rights Project, with its experience in assisting refugee populations, is the U.S. Government's main partner in the implementation of the grant. (DFisk) ¶2. (U) SALW DESTRUCTION PROGRAM REVIVED: On January 21, the MoD restarted its small arms/light weapons (SALW) destruction program, which had been in hiatus for the past year. This phase, conducted without international assistance, will destroy 7,500 unserviceable or obsolete, non-NATO standard weapons over the next two weeks. Long-term plans call for removing up to 170,000 SALW from the Croatian military's inventory. Post also continues to engage with the MoD on development of plans to destroy hundreds of excess shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles (MANPADS). (TSelinger) ¶3. (U) NEW TOURISM MINISTER CITES IVP EXPERIENCE: "OUR HOTELS ARE BETTER THAN AMERICA'S": On January 17, Croatian State Secretary of Tourism resigned his office to move to the private sector. Commenting to the press, he praised the decision to separate tourism into its own ministry but criticized other elements of the government's approach, such as the focus on the agricultural sector's supplying food to coastal hotels. Related to this criticism is the fact that the new minister of tourism, Damir Bajs, comes from a rural area of Croatia and from outside the industry. In an interview that same day, Bajs told a journalist he had been to the US just once, on a leadership program of the US government (International Visitors Program). He said they stayed at "reasonably standardized, correct hotels," but once had to wait an hour to check in. He said that would never happen at a hotel in Croatia, adding, "I think our hotels are better." Asked to name the five best Croatian hotels he had visited, however, he could not remember any names. (SLitke) BRADTKE