SERBIA RESPONSE: DEVELOPING FOLLOW-UP DATA ON COESPU

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BELGRADE 000349 DEPT FOR EUR/SCE (P. PETERSON),PM/PPA (J. HANLEY) SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O.12958: N/A TAGS: MARR MASS IT PKO SR SUBJECT: SERBIA RESPONSE: DEVELOPING FOLLOW-UP DATA ON COESPU PARTICIPANTS REF: STATE 27713 Summary and Action Request -------------- ¶1. (SBU) We delivered reftel request for assistance to Interior Ministry International Cooperation Bureau head Drazen Maravic on April 3. Maravic told us the Ministry was discussing increasing police involvement in European peacekeeping operations and Interior Minister Ivica Dacic had already conveyed this to the European Union. Currently, Serbia had only 11 individual officers, who were trained at COESPU, participating in two missions but was considering greater participation, Maravic said. Providing a full formed police unit of 25 officers would be very difficult for Serbia at this time. Serbia was instead considering forming a sub-unit that could serve in another country's contingent. Maravic requested lessons learned from comparable European countries on the complete process of forming a contingent or part of a contingent, government decision-making on accepting invitations to participate in missions, deployment, rotations of officers, and reintegration of previously deployed officers back into the police force. Maravic noted financial constraints and possibly legislative approval as further hurdles. Action request: we request any information the Department has available on best practices from other countries. End Summary. Questionnaire Responses -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Serbian Interior Ministry responses to the survey keyed to reftel question letters follow: A) There are no police officers currently assigned to stability police training. B) There is no unit trained by COESPU graduates. C) There are no COESPU graduates that are currently assigned to stability police units. D) COESPU graduates that have been or are currently deployed to peace operations as UN civilian police: Goran MARKOVIC, chief inspector, UNMIL, 2004-2005 Ljubisa DRASKOVIC, independent inspector, UNMIL, 2006-2007 Milorad MARKOVIC, major, UNMIL, 2008 Zeljko JOVIC, captain, MINUSTAH, 2008-2009 Milan POPOVIC, captain, MINUSTAH, 2008-2009 Dejan NIKOLIC, warrant officer, MINUSTAH, 2008-2009 Vladan MARKOVIC, warrant officer, MINUSTAH, 2008-2009 Irena PASTI, senior inspector, MINUSTAH, 2008-2009 Dejan VUJACIC, major, UNMIL, present Brankica JANOSEVIC, sergeant, UNMIL, present Ivan ALEKSANDAR major, UNMIL, present Vlado Ristevski, warrant officer, UNMIL, present E) COESPU graduates on the waiting list for MINUSTAH: Goran PANOVIC, captain, COESPU-MM6 Slobodan JANJIC, chief inspector, COESPU-HL11 Slobodan OBRENOVIC, captain, COESPU-MM6 F) All COESPU graduates work in the same position as they worked before COESPU Course. They are potential candidates for UN mission deployment. G) We do not have police officers on UN waiting lists. We are currently participating in two UN missions with 11 police officers (Liberia - 6, Haiti - 5). For time being we maintain our obligation to send 11 police officers each year. H) Sixty (60) candidates have passed SAT. I) All graduates passed UN Certification at COESPU courses. J) Candidates who did not pass (SAT) exam: Dragan ARIZANOVIC, police adviser, HL 5 Damir SIMONOVIC, lieutenant, MM 7 Sasa PAVLOVIC, sergeant, MM 8 Milan GAK, warrant officer, MM 10 Vojkan IVANOVIC, sergeant, MM12 Drasko SUVARA, warrant officer, MM12 Zeljko RADIN, sergeant, MM12 Mihailo RAICEVIC, junior warrant officer, MM12 Djordje DOBRASINOVIC, independent inspector, MM13 Srdjan DJOKOVIC, sergeant, MM13 Nenad SCEPANOVIC, sergeant , MM13 Predrag MACESIC, sergeant, MM13 BELGRADE 00000349 002 OF 002 K) Graduates who did not pass the exam are advised to improve skills in particular areas that they did not pass (in most cases - the English test proficiency in part of writing reports). If they do so, we consider them for participation in UN missions. Up to now all candidates we sent to the UN missions passed all required mission tests. L) The criteria are not always the same for SAT exams. It depends on UN instructors who provide final exams, there are some varieties. M) COESPU training is currently the main training in the area of peacekeeping operations for Serbian police officers for the time being. We consider COESPU training very important when selecting our police officers to be deployed to UN missions. N) COESPU training would be a factor in the process of the selection of the commanders of potential FPU unit in the future. O) We consider that UN Certification (SAT) exam suffices. It has covered all necessary UN mission requirements (language proficiency, driving skills, shooting). We would be glad to host SAT team in our country in order to test more police officers who are currently interested in participating in peacekeeping operations. P) The curriculum at COESPU is under constant improvement in order to meet FPU/SPU needs (start with medical first aid and final exam are examples for such progress). Specific Information -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Interior Ministry responses to the specific information for Serbia follow. Answers are keyed to reftel question letters. A) There is a willingness to create and send a police contingent to UN missions. Unfortunately, the legislative framework for such an arrangement needs further development and improvement in cooperation with MFA of Serbia and other relevant institutions. Also, we have to consider the financial restraint that can be limiting in this kind of engagement as well as capacity of our police manpower available for such an arrangement. Additional information and support is needed to establish and eventually deploy FPU. In the meantime, we will continue to build necessary administrative capacity. B) We have enough instructors trained by COESPU to provide training in Serbia. Additional English language courses and organizing regular UN SAT test in Serbia would be appreciated. C) After completing MM17 and HL17 courses the number of trained police trainers from Serbia will rise to 88. Therefore, it would be useful to analyze and evaluate the training and development we completed so far. We would be happy to host MAT in September before the MM18 and HL18 courses begin. PEDERSON