KOSOVO: KP PARAMILITARY POLICE SENT NORTH

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000378 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/PGI, INL, DRL, PRM, USAID E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KV SUBJECT: KOSOVO: KP PARAMILITARY POLICE SENT NORTH REF: Pristina 362 SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. ¶1. (SBU) Summary: A standoff between ethnic Albanians and ethnic Serbs in Mitrovica over the reconstruction of several Albanian houses destroyed in the war escalated Thursday evening when Prime Minister Thaci ordered Kosovo paramilitary police (ROSU) to Mitrovica to protect Albanian construction workers. EULEX responded by sending 100 of its riot police (FPU) to three bridges to prevent the ROSU from crossing the Ibar into the majority Serb area of northern Mitrovica. A clash was averted when the Ambassador reached Prime Minister Thaci and asked him to call back the ROSU units. This is the latest incident in a week of rising tension between the GOK and EULEX, which has included local rejection of an EULEX-Serbia police cooperation protocol and two incidents of mass vandalism against EULEX vehicles. In meetings with internationals and GOK officials, the Ambassador urged all sides to avoid confrontation and to refrain from any additional inflammatory statements that might further complicate resolving GOK-EULEX issues. End Summary. GOK ANGERED BY ACTION IN MITROVICA -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Following an August 27 meeting between International Civilian Representative Pieter Feith, EULEX Head of Mission Yves de Kermabon and top Kosovo leadership, President Fatmir Sejdiu and Prime Minister Hashim Thaci issued a statement in which they called discussion of an EULEX-Serbia police cooperation protocol "dead." They cited as rationale for their decision intervention August 26 by (ethnic Serb) Kosovo Police, backed by EULEX, in the Kroi i Vitakut section of northern Mitrovica that kept some ethnic Albanian returnees from conducting reconstruction work. PM SENDS SPECIAL POLICE NORTH -------------- ¶3. (SBU) Hours after this decision was announced, we received reports that the Prime Minister had ordered 25 members of the paramilitary police (ROSU) to northern Mitrovica to protect the Albanian returnees who were engaged in reconstruction work. EULEX subsequently sent two Formed Police Units (FPU, anti-riot police), consisting of 100 French, Italian, Romanian, and Polish officers, to the three bridges across the River Ibar to prevent the ROSU from crossing. The FPU commander was able to convince the ROSU commander to stand down, and, at around 8 p.m., the ROSU pulled back to a police station in southern Mitrovica. Responding to a call from the Ambassador, Prime Minister Thaci called the ROSU back to Pristina. As of Friday morning, Albanian construction workers were at the building site, but no work had begun. There were no reports of violence on Friday. A DANGEROUS END TO A BAD WEEK FOR EULEX -------------- ¶4. (SBU) This standoff was just the latest bad news in a difficult week for EULEX. On August 25, members of Albin Kurti's Vetevendosje ("Self Determination") Movement vandalized 28 parked, unoccupied EULEX vehicles, in an action which they claimed was a protest against the unpopular EULEX-Serbia police cooperation protocol. Twenty-two Vetevendosje activists were arrested at the scene, with 21 subsequently remanded for 30 days of investigative detention. The evening of August 26, unknown assailants slashed the tires of an additional 13 EULEX vehicles in the Dragodan neighborhood of the capital, Pristina. AMBASSADOR URGES COOLING OFF PERIOD -------------- ¶5. (SBU) During and after these incidents, the Ambassador has urged calm. In two August 27 phone conversations and again in an August 28 meeting with Prime Minister Thaci, they agreed that confrontation between Kosovo Police and EULEX would serve nobody, and a several-day cooling off period was called for. At an August 27 Quint, the Ambassador also urged the Europeans to refrain from statements or actions that might further ratchet up political tensions, most notably a decision to sign the police protocol despite GOK objections. Following this cooling off period, Thaci PRISTINA 00000378 002 OF 002 agreed to meet the Ambassador and ICR Pieter Feith to discuss modalities for cooperation in police and customs between Kosovo, EULEX, and Serbia. This meeting should take place late next week after Feith returns from consultations in Brussels. COMMENT -------------- ¶6. (SBU) The decision to send ROSU forces north represented a dangerous escalation in tensions between the GOK and EULEX. We were fortunate that Prime Minister Thaci recalled the ROSU forces, and that the incident did not end in a violent police-on-police confrontation. We are also fortunate that the Europeans have thus far, also refrained from escalating the issue, though there are some within EULEX who want to do so by moving forward with the police protocol regardless. We will continue to urge all sides to put aside the issue of EULEX-Serbia police cooperation for several days, in the hopes that calm can increase the political space necessary for Kosovo leaders and EULEX to maneuver. DELL