Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ZAGREB579
2008-08-01 14:17:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Zagreb
Cable title:
ZAGREB ACTIVITY REPORT - AUGUST 1
how-toVZCZCXRO1416 PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG DE RUEHVB #0579 2141417 ZNR UUUUU ZZH P 011417Z AUG 08 FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8539 INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PRIORITY 0013
UNCLAS ZAGREB 000579
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KCRM KHDP MASS MARR PARM HR
SUBJECT: ZAGREB ACTIVITY REPORT - AUGUST 1
REF: ZAGREB 00576
UNCLAS ZAGREB 000579
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KCRM KHDP MASS MARR PARM HR
SUBJECT: ZAGREB ACTIVITY REPORT - AUGUST 1
REF: ZAGREB 00576
1. (U) WITNESS SUPPORT PROJECT ACHIEVING SUCCESS: In a
recent meeting, UNDP officials announced that their pilot
program to provide witness support services in three county
courts and the Zagreb municipal court assisted more than 100
witnesses in serious crimes trials during its first three
months of operation. UNDP also reports that several other
courts are expressing interest in the program. The program
funds positions for an administrator and deputy in each court
as well as training, while the courts provide waiting rooms
and offices. Beginning in October 2009, the eight positions
will be fully funded by Ministry of Justice. The UNDP
program for courts complements USG efforts through the ICITAP
program to develop witness support programs for police and
prosecutors.
2. (SBU) ITF RELYING ON US FUNDS AS DEMINING DONATIONS
DECLINE: According to the coordinator in Croatia for the
International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims
Assistance (ITF),donors for Croatian demining efforts are
quickly evaporating despite large areas of the country still
waiting to be demined. She cited Croatia's development,
highlighted by its NATO membership and expected EU accession,
as the main reasons why potential donors are reluctant to
fund demining projects in Croatia, focusing instead on
neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina. The coordinator also
reported that the United States continues to be ITFs largest
donor, providing more than 18 million USD to date for
demining programs in Croatia. In the first half of 2008,
USG-funded projects totaling more than 1.2 million USD,
cleared landmines from 525,000 square meters of homes, yards,
and arable land.
3. (U) SAKIC FUNERAL FALLOUT: Reaction to the July 24
funeral service of former Jasenovac concentration camp
commander Dinko Sakic continued to receive media attention
this week. The priest who led the service, Vjekoslav Lasic,
has a history of glorifying Croatia's Ustasha regime.
According to media reports, the priest said "I am proud to
have seen my friend Dinko Sakic laid out in his Ustasha
uniform, and Croatia and our people must be proud to have had
him." The priest's comments led Ephraim Zuroff of the Simon
Wiesenthal Center, who played a role in bringing Sakic to
trial in Croatia, to call on President Mesic to give a "clear
and unequivocal reminder that Dinko Sakic was a mass
murderer... and that one of Croatia's greatest achievements
was his prosecution and punishment." On July 27, Mesic's
office released a statement saying that the president has
repeatedly deplored all crimes committed by the Ustasha
regime and branded it as a criminal regime. Mesic called on
the government to take appropriate measures to prevent
Sakic's funeral from damaging Croatia's reputation and from
influencing Croatia's youth. A GOC spokesman said the
government agrees with the president's statement but added
that the funeral was a family matter in which the government
bore no responsibility. He added that any decision on
pursuing charges against those who spoke at the funeral is
left to the State Prosecutor's office.
4. (U) SERBIA WILL NOT SEND AMBASSADOR BACK TO CROATIA: On
August 1, Croatian daily Vecernji list reported on Serbia's
decision to continue to withhold its ambassador to Croatia
while sending its ambassadors back to the European Union
countries which recognized Kosovo. Citing "domestic
political sources," Vecernji said that Serbia is doing this
for internal political reasons because it needs "an enemy to
flex its muscles on." A Croatian Foreign Ministry spokesman
told Vecernji that Croatia expects the Serbian ambassador to
return to Croatia soon, as doing so would show that Serbia
understands that a good relationship between the two
neighbors contributes to peace and stability in South-Eastern
Europe.
5. (U) CROATIA SIGNS ARRANGEMENT FOR MANPADS DESTRUCTION WITH
USG: On July 30 Minister of Defense Vukelic and Ambassador
Bradtke signed an implementing arrangement to provide one
million dollars of USG assistance for the destruction of 929
SA 7 Strela missiles and to conduct security site upgrades.
Please see ZAGREB 00576 for more information.
Walker
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM KCRM KHDP MASS MARR PARM HR
SUBJECT: ZAGREB ACTIVITY REPORT - AUGUST 1
REF: ZAGREB 00576
1. (U) WITNESS SUPPORT PROJECT ACHIEVING SUCCESS: In a
recent meeting, UNDP officials announced that their pilot
program to provide witness support services in three county
courts and the Zagreb municipal court assisted more than 100
witnesses in serious crimes trials during its first three
months of operation. UNDP also reports that several other
courts are expressing interest in the program. The program
funds positions for an administrator and deputy in each court
as well as training, while the courts provide waiting rooms
and offices. Beginning in October 2009, the eight positions
will be fully funded by Ministry of Justice. The UNDP
program for courts complements USG efforts through the ICITAP
program to develop witness support programs for police and
prosecutors.
2. (SBU) ITF RELYING ON US FUNDS AS DEMINING DONATIONS
DECLINE: According to the coordinator in Croatia for the
International Trust Fund for Demining and Mine Victims
Assistance (ITF),donors for Croatian demining efforts are
quickly evaporating despite large areas of the country still
waiting to be demined. She cited Croatia's development,
highlighted by its NATO membership and expected EU accession,
as the main reasons why potential donors are reluctant to
fund demining projects in Croatia, focusing instead on
neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina. The coordinator also
reported that the United States continues to be ITFs largest
donor, providing more than 18 million USD to date for
demining programs in Croatia. In the first half of 2008,
USG-funded projects totaling more than 1.2 million USD,
cleared landmines from 525,000 square meters of homes, yards,
and arable land.
3. (U) SAKIC FUNERAL FALLOUT: Reaction to the July 24
funeral service of former Jasenovac concentration camp
commander Dinko Sakic continued to receive media attention
this week. The priest who led the service, Vjekoslav Lasic,
has a history of glorifying Croatia's Ustasha regime.
According to media reports, the priest said "I am proud to
have seen my friend Dinko Sakic laid out in his Ustasha
uniform, and Croatia and our people must be proud to have had
him." The priest's comments led Ephraim Zuroff of the Simon
Wiesenthal Center, who played a role in bringing Sakic to
trial in Croatia, to call on President Mesic to give a "clear
and unequivocal reminder that Dinko Sakic was a mass
murderer... and that one of Croatia's greatest achievements
was his prosecution and punishment." On July 27, Mesic's
office released a statement saying that the president has
repeatedly deplored all crimes committed by the Ustasha
regime and branded it as a criminal regime. Mesic called on
the government to take appropriate measures to prevent
Sakic's funeral from damaging Croatia's reputation and from
influencing Croatia's youth. A GOC spokesman said the
government agrees with the president's statement but added
that the funeral was a family matter in which the government
bore no responsibility. He added that any decision on
pursuing charges against those who spoke at the funeral is
left to the State Prosecutor's office.
4. (U) SERBIA WILL NOT SEND AMBASSADOR BACK TO CROATIA: On
August 1, Croatian daily Vecernji list reported on Serbia's
decision to continue to withhold its ambassador to Croatia
while sending its ambassadors back to the European Union
countries which recognized Kosovo. Citing "domestic
political sources," Vecernji said that Serbia is doing this
for internal political reasons because it needs "an enemy to
flex its muscles on." A Croatian Foreign Ministry spokesman
told Vecernji that Croatia expects the Serbian ambassador to
return to Croatia soon, as doing so would show that Serbia
understands that a good relationship between the two
neighbors contributes to peace and stability in South-Eastern
Europe.
5. (U) CROATIA SIGNS ARRANGEMENT FOR MANPADS DESTRUCTION WITH
USG: On July 30 Minister of Defense Vukelic and Ambassador
Bradtke signed an implementing arrangement to provide one
million dollars of USG assistance for the destruction of 929
SA 7 Strela missiles and to conduct security site upgrades.
Please see ZAGREB 00576 for more information.
Walker