Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08ZAGREB688
2008-10-02 08:09:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Zagreb
Cable title:  

CROATIAN LEADERS FOCUS ON REGIONAL ISSUES DURING

Tags:  PREL PGOV KPAO MOPS MARR NATO HR DEFENSE REFORM 
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INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
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RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PRIORITY 0019
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 ZAGREB 000688 

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE AND EUR/RPM
ALSO PLEASE PASS TO EUCOM PLANS AND ANALYSES STUTTGART GE
OSD FOR POPOVICH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/29/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV KPAO MOPS MARR NATO HR DEFENSE REFORM
SUBJECT: CROATIAN LEADERS FOCUS ON REGIONAL ISSUES DURING
DEPUTY SECRETARY ENGLAND'S VISIT TO CROATIA

Classified By: Peter D'Amico, Political Officer, for Reasons 1.4 B/D.

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 05 ZAGREB 000688

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE AND EUR/RPM
ALSO PLEASE PASS TO EUCOM PLANS AND ANALYSES STUTTGART GE
OSD FOR POPOVICH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/29/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV KPAO MOPS MARR NATO HR DEFENSE REFORM
SUBJECT: CROATIAN LEADERS FOCUS ON REGIONAL ISSUES DURING
DEPUTY SECRETARY ENGLAND'S VISIT TO CROATIA

Classified By: Peter D'Amico, Political Officer, for Reasons 1.4 B/D.


1. (C) Summary: During his September 29 visit to Zagreb,
Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England discussed regional
and military issues with Prime Minister Sanader, President
Mesic, Foreign Minister Jandrokovic, and Defense Minister
Vukelic. Sanader thanked the USG for its help on NATO
accession. Sanader also discussed a recent private meeting
with Serbian President Tadic in which Sanader emphasized that
Belgrade needed to accept reality on Kosovo. Tadic
complained that Croatia's decision to recognize Kosovo's
independence had made relations between the two countries
"tough" and warned of possible consequences. On Bosnia,
Sanader stressed that he wanted to preserve Bosnia's
territorial integrity, but that Bosnian Croats needed a
greater voice. In a separate meeting, Mesic also raised
concerns about the potential for future conflict in Bosnia
and called for the international community to do more to rein
in Republika Srpska Prime Minister Dodik. Over lunch, FM
Jandrokovic said that Serbian FM Jeremic remained focused on
trying to maintain Serbia's claims to Kosovo. DefMin Vukelic
praised the excellent bilateral military cooperation between
the U.S. and Croatia and thanked the USG for its support.
End Summary.

Sanader Gives Overview of Region and Thanks to USG
-------------- --------------


2. (C) Thanks for U.S. Support: PM Sanader appeared upbeat
and satisfied with his just completed trip to New York for
the UN General Assembly (UNGA). He noted that he had many
meetings with a number of international leaders on the
margins of UNGA and stated that he had made a special effort
to reach out to regional leaders. The PM thanked Deputy
Secretary England for his personal efforts on behalf of
Croatia as well as the great support of the USG. President

Bush's visit in April and the U.S. Senate's quick approval of
Croatia's NATO accession protocol demonstrated the strength
of the relationship between the two countries. The strong
signal from the Senate would encourage other NATO allies to
move quickly to ratify. England replied that the USG was
delighted to support Croatia and that he hoped Croatia would
become a full member of NATO at the April 2009 summit in
Strasbourg and Kehl. The rapid progress that had taken place
was a testament to the solid leadership in the country.


3. (C) Serbia: Sanader said in a private one-on-one meeting
in New York he delivered three key messages to Serbian
President Boris Tadic: 1. Kosovo's independence is a
reality. 2. Kosovo's independence was irreversible. 3.
Croatia wanted Serbia to be a member of Euro-Atlantic
institutions. Sanader encouraged Tadic to let go of Kosovo.
While Tadic was in a tough situation politically he was also
in a strong position following his election wins. The best
time to take a courageous move would be now, Sanader told
Tadic. Belgrade needed to decide about the future direction
of the country, and selling large amounts of Serbia's energy
infrastructure to the Russians sent mixed messages about
which side Serbia wanted to join.


4. (C) Tadic told Sanader that the GoC had made bilateral
relations tough by recognizing the independence of Kosovo and
that Belgrade could still create problems in Croatia. Tadic
noted that there will still members of the so-called
"government" of the "Republic of Serb Krajina" in Serbia,
whose members had recently recognized the independence of
South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Sanader said that he did not
necessarily take this comment seriously. Sanader responded
by telling Tadic they were both modern politicians and should
deal with issues in that way and not by acting like Slobodan
Milosevic.


5. (C) Sanader did suggest that a letter released in

ZAGREB 00000688 002 OF 005


September by Serbian Democratic Forum (SDF) in Croatia, which
heavily criticized the GoC, might be part of an effort by
Belgrade to create problems in Croatia. While the Serbian
community in Croatia had some problems, the GoC was trying to
resolve those issues. Sanader noted that the Independent
Democratic Serb Party (SDSS),the SDF's rivals, were part of
the government and one of its members was a Deputy Prime
Minister.


6. (C) Sanader stated that the GoC would continue talks with
Belgrade. Once Serbia returned its ambassador to Zagreb, a
delegation of Croatian parliamentarians from the Foreign
Affairs Committee would go to Belgrade to share experiences
from Croatia's EU bid. The GoC would also continue to remain
involved in the region as a whole, with the main goal being
stability and prosperity for all of Southeastern Europe.
England stressed that it was important for regional leaders
to stay focused on the future well-being of their citizens
and not get caught up on the problems of the past.


7. (C) Bosnia and Herzegovina: Sanader stressed that Bosnia
and Herzegovina (BiH) needed to be preserved as a whole. BiH
was like a stool with three legs. Each of BiH's constituent
people represented a leg and if any of them were cut then the
country would topple. The Republika Srpska (RS) should not
even think about accession to Serbia as RS PM Milan Dodik had
mentioned. The RS needed to remain part of BiH for regional
stability, otherwise a war would likely breakout. Sanader
also emphasized that he wanted Bosnian Croats to stay in BiH
to keep the country stable and to prevent a wave of refugees
to Croatia.


8. (C) Sanader said that in his meetings with international
leaders he repeatedly stressed that the Bosnian Croats were
dominated by the Bosniaks in the Federation and they should
have a more equal position. One way to achieve this would be
to give the Bosnian Croats the same number of minister
positions as the Bosniaks since they shared common interests.
He expressed concern that when Croatia joins NATO and the EU
that many Bosnian Croats would leave BiH if they continued to
feel powerless. Sanader emphasized that he did not want a
massive influx of Bosnian Croats. Bosnian Croats were part
of BiH and should remain that way, as should the Bosnian
Serbs. England stressed that the USG wanted to preserve
BiH's territorial integrity and that the possibility of RS
separating threatened regional stability.


9. (C) Macedonia: Sander reported that he discussed the name
issue with Macedonian President Branko Crvenkovski and Greek
FM Dora Bakoyannis in New York. While praising the work of
UN Negotiator Nimetz, Sanader believed that a solution was
unlikely anytime soon. The positions of both sides were
hardening and becoming less rational. When Sanader told
Crvenkovski that Nimetz's pre-Bucharest offer had been a good
one, Crvenkovski replied that the name New Macedonia would be
an unacceptable since it did not imply a continuation of
Macedonian identity. England expressed hope that a
compromise could soon be found on the name issue since it was
important to have a unified front on larger issues such as
Russia's aggression in Georgia.


10. (C) Non-Aligned Movement and Mesic: Echoing his comments
to the press in New York, Sanader said that it might be
useful to weigh in with President Mesic that Croatia's future
was with NATO and the EU and not the Non-Aligned Movement
(NAM). Some of Mesic's advisors' still believed that Croatia
needed to be part of NAM like in the old Yugoslav times.
This sometimes led to disagreements between Sanader and Mesic
over Croatia's policy positions in the UN Security Council.
Sanader wanted Croatia to stand with the United States and EU
members of the Security Council. However, some of Mesic's
advisors felt they had a debt to NAM counties since they
believed that Croatia owed its membership on the Security

ZAGREB 00000688 003 OF 005


CQcil to their support. Qader recognized that NAM
countries' votes had been important, but they also knew at
the time that Croatia was in the process of joining NATO and
the EU.Q

11. (C) Croatia EU Bid: Sanader stated that Croatia had
achieved its goals on the path to the EU and would
successfully overcome the remaining challenges such as the
privatization of shipyards. The Prime Minister noted that in
his recent meeting with EU Commission President Barosso, the
two expressed the hope that Croatia would finish technical
negotiations with the Commission by September or October of

2009. Barosso wanted to finish the negotiations before the
end of his term in October 2009. Sanader said he was aiming
for Croatia to join the EU by the end of 2010. It would take
a little over a year's time from the end of negotiations
since the necessary documents would need to be translated
into all official EU languages and the EU member countries
would then have to ratify Croatia's candidacy.

President Mesic Raises Red Flag about BiH
--------------


12. (SBU) President Mesic presented England with a decoration
for promoting bilateral ties between the U.S. and Croatia.
England thanked Croatia for its contributions and sacrifices
for peace and stability around the world. In a private
meeting following the awards ceremony, Mesic began by
expressing thanks to England and through him to the American
people for supporting Croatia in achieving its strategic
goals of NATO and EU membership.


13. (C) Bosnia: Mesic expressed deep concerns about the
future of BiH. Dayton stopped war but did not create a
mechanism for governing BiH effectively. The root of the
problem was that the RS was founded on a policy of ethnic
cleansing and was opposed to the very existence of a B-H
state. The architects and ideologues of the RS from the war
might be in the Hague, but their creation and policies still
lived on. There was a great danger in the leadership of the
RS arguing that BiH was not a permanent arrangement, but that
the RS was. These statements seriously undermined BiH's
territorial integrity. The High Representative Miroslav
Lajcak, whom Mesic would be seeing immediately afterwards,
needed more help. Mesic also implied that the Russian
ambassador in Bosnia was actively encouraging Dodik's
irresponsible policies.


14. (C) Dodik presented a serious threat to peace and Mesic
pleaded for the international community to be more engaged.
Mesic recalled his days of warning the international
community about Milosevic and said that he is now delivering
a similar warning about Dodik. Dodik acted as though the
only part of Dayton that counts is the part that established
the RS and he was not living up to the other commitments of
Dayton. For example, Dodik had not permitted enough returns
of Bosnian Croats to areas of the RS. 200,000 Bosnian Croats
fled from Posavina area and only 10,000 had returned after
war. Mesic said Dodik needed to be told to adhere to all
parts of Dayton and be given a firm deadline. If he doesn't,
then there should bQ "new Dayton," althQh Mesic did not
specific on what he meant by a &new Dayton."


15. (C) Mesic predicted that if a solution was not found and
BiH collapsed, then Qwould go to Serbia, and Bosnian Croats
would come to Croatia. Left with a rump Islamic state in
Europe, the Bosniaks would likely seek friends in
fundamentalist Islamic countries. This would make Bosnia a
potential haven for terrorists in the center of Europe.
England stressed the need to preserve BiH territorial
integrity and that the USG was opposed to Dodik's attempts to
undermine BiH. He said the USG would work to try to
strengthen Lajcak.

ZAGREB 00000688 004 OF 005




16. (C) Kosovo: Mesic stated that Kosovo's independence
completed the "final architecture of the region." Mesic
supported the USG view that Kosovo was a different case than
South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Serbs were both unable to govern
Kosovo and unable to negotiate its separation. Kosovo
independence was now a reality and Belgrade had only itself
to blame. England agreed that an independent Kosovo was a
reality that Serbia needed to come to terms with.

FM Jandrokovic on FM Jeremic's Plans for Kosovo
-------------- --


17. (C) During an informal conversation over lunch, Foreign
Minister Jandrokovic said he had a private one-on-one with
Serbian FM Jeremic in New York. Jandrokovic came away from
that meeting very discouraged about Serbia moving forward
from Kosovo. Jeremic had maintained that "no Serb politician
could ever accept the independence of Kosovo." Jeremic was
counting on the UN General Assembly voting to send Serbia's
case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). He then
hoped for a positive judgment by the ICJ, and that Serbia
would be able to use this judgment to resist pressure from
the EU to recognize Kosovo as a condition for membership in
the EU.


18. (C) Jandrokovic said he is headed for Skopje on
September 30 and that he would urge the Macedonians to make a
deal on the name issue. However, he saw little prospect of
that happening any time this year. On Bosnia, Jandrokovic
was also concerned about the direction that Dodik was taking
in BiH. He argued that the international community needed to
find a solution and that more needed to be done to protect
the rights of all the constituent peoples of BiH. He was
pessimistic that EU countries were paying enough attention to
BiH or that they would be resolute in standing up to Dodik.

DefMin Vukelic/CHOD Lucic Praise Cooperation with US
-------------- --------------


19. (C) Strong Bilateral Relations: Defense Minister Branko
Vukelic thanked England for the excellent cooperation between
Croatia and the United States on military matters. He noted
that there was extensive cooperation on a number of issues
and that the MoD wanted to continue and expand bilateral ties
as appropriate.


20. (C) Region: The Chief of the General Staff of the
Croatian Armed Forces (CHOD) Josip Lucic said Croatia was
committed to working with all the members of the Adriatic
Charter, new and old, in building ties with NATO. The
Croatian Armed Forces (CAF) wanted to cooperate with Serbia
whenever Belgrade was open to it. England praised the
decision of GoC to recognize Kosovo, which added to the
region's stability. England added that the USG supported the
Adriatic Charter on the highest levels.


21. (C) Peacekeeping: England praised Croatia for having its
forces in peacekeeping missions around the world including
ISAF and noted that the Croatia contribution was especially
valuable. Vukelic said the CAF had elements involved in
thirteen UN peacekeeping operations around the globe. The
most recent deployment was of 98 CAF personnel to the UN
mission in the Golan Heights. The CAF would soon deploy 15
soldiers to the EU-led mission in Chad as well as sending two
helicopters and twenty soldiers to Kosovo to participate in
KFOR in 2009.


22. (C) Education/Training: One key area of interest was in
education and training. Vukelic said the joint military
training exercises held with the U.S. had great value for the
CAF. Lucic also emphasized the importance of educational
exchanges with the U.S. military, especially expert level and

ZAGREB 00000688 005 OF 005


language training. England agreed that that training and
educational exchanges were important and that the USG would
look into increasing the number of opportunities for such
exchanges.


23. (C) F-16s: Lucic said the MoD wanted to replace its
MiG-21 aircraft with a similar number of advanced fighters
for domestic air policing. He assured England that three
different offers that the U.S. made to Croatia regarding the
purchase of F-16s would be carefully considered. England
assured Vukelic that the USG would continue to work with the
GoC on this issue, but also noted Croatia would need to
budget a significant amount of money to purchase and maintain
advanced fighters.


24. (C) MANPADs /Munitions: The agreement that the MOD signed
with the Embassy about regarding the destruction of MANPADs
was another excellent example of cooperation, Vukelic said.
The million dollars in assistance was appreciated and the MoD
also wanted to receive training about how to improve security
munitions warehouses as well as how to prevent accidents.
England suggested that the CHODs in the region might want to
look into cooperation between the armed forces regarding the
destruction of ordnance since it might be beneficial to
achieve economies of scale.


25. (C) Cooperation with Minnesota National Guard: Vukelic
praised the excellent cooperation with the Minnesota National
Guard. The combined combat-support Operational Mentoring and
Liaison Team (OMLT) Croatia was preparing to send to
Afghanistan with the Minnesota National Guard illustrated the
strong ties. England said he was pleased that the National
Guard cooperation was going well.


26. (C) Foreign Military Financing (FMF): Vukelic noted that
FMF had been suspended in July 2003 due to ASPA sanctions,
and would be starting up again in FY09. He noted that FMF
was very helpful in getting the CAF prepared for NATO.
England replied that FMF was projected to increase in the
upcoming years and noted that the State Department had a
major role in determining the levels of FMF spending.


27. (U) Deputy Secretary England has cleared this cable.
Bradtke