Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09USOSCE206
2009-09-22 06:32:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Mission USOSCE
Cable title:  

OSCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS: SEPTEMBER 8 - 11, 2009

Tags:  MARR OSCE PGOV PREL KZ GG RU 
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P 220632Z SEP 09
FM USMISSION USOSCE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6592
INFO RUCNOSC/ORG FOR SECURITY CO OP IN EUR COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHAS/AMEMBASSY ALGIERS PRIORITY 0100
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN PRIORITY 0066
RUEHBK/AMEMBASSY BANGKOK PRIORITY 0114
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO PRIORITY 0063
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 0110
RUEHRB/AMEMBASSY RABAT PRIORITY 0093
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL PRIORITY 0118
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 0112
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 0153
RUEHTU/AMEMBASSY TUNIS PRIORITY 0093
RUEHUM/AMEMBASSY ULAANBAATAR PRIORITY 0056
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDRUSAREUR HEIDELBERG GE PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHDLCNE/CINCUSNAVEUR LONDON UK PRIORITY
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/DOD WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMCSUU/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
RUESDT/DTRA-OSES DARMSTADT GE PRIORITY
RUEASWA/DTRA ALEX WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JCS WASHDC PRIORITY
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RHMFISS/SACEUR POLAD SHAPE BE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/USRAREUR POLAD HEIDELBERG GE PRIORITY
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 USOSCE 000206 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2019
TAGS: MARR OSCE PGOV PREL KZ GG RU
SUBJECT: OSCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS: SEPTEMBER 8 - 11, 2009

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Carol Fuller for Reasons 1.4(B)&(D)

Freedom Representative Replacement Before 2010

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 USOSCE 000206

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/15/2019
TAGS: MARR OSCE PGOV PREL KZ GG RU
SUBJECT: OSCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS: SEPTEMBER 8 - 11, 2009

Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Carol Fuller for Reasons 1.4(B)&(D)

Freedom Representative Replacement Before 2010


1. (SBU) At the weekly U.S.-CiO meeting September 8, Greek
PermRep Marinaki said she intends during the Greek
Chairmanship to complete the process for replacing OSCE
Representative on Freedom of the Media (RFoM) Miklos Haraszti
whose term expires in March 2009. Marinaki said the
announcement for the position will come out next week, and
that the selection process would be "open and transparent",
including a session where each candidate will give a
presentation and answer questions by interested participating
states. Marinaki said she said she did not expect objections
from the incoming Kazakh chairmanship to this timeline. This
appointment, while based upon the recommendation of the CiO,
will require consensus PC or MC decision.

EC to Invite OSCE as Observer to EU Eastern Partners Meetings


2. (SBU) In the Sept 8 U.S.-CiO meeting, Greek PermRep
Marinaki noted that the EC plans to invite the OSCE as an
observer to upcoming EU Eastern Partnership meetings on
October 7 focusing on democratization, good governance, and
rule of law. She said this participation has already been
welcomed by all sides. The OSCE will be represented by a
member of the Secretariat's Conflict Prevention Center.

Russia Still Cold on Climate Change in the OSCE


3. (SBU) On September 2 a member of the Russian delegation
who handles 2nd dimension issues told Poloff that Moscow had
decided not to send representatives from its OSCE delegation
or from Moscow to the CiO-sponsored conference on the
security implications of climate change, to be hosted by
Romania October 5-6. He said someone from the Russian
Embassy in Bucharest would attend the conference, but noted
Moscow viewed the event as a "waste of time." He also said
Moscow still considered climate change, including its
potential security implications, an area where OSCE
involvement would add no value. A representative of the Greek
delegation told us earlier this summer that they would not

bother to attempt negotiating a Ministerial decision on the
security implications of climate change if Russia expressed
the same strong opposition they did in 2008, which likely
means this potential Ministerial decision is already off the
table for this year.

EU Shares Positive Views of First Corfu Process Meeting


4. (SBU) At the weekly U.S.-EU Troika meeting September 9,
Sweden/EU Presidency PermRep Bard-BringQus said EU
impressions of the first Corfu Process meeting were generally
positive, adding that it had reaffirmed the importance of
OSCE commitments and the potential benefits of full
implementation. She was not surprised by Russia's
elaboration of another parallel track alongside the Corfu
Process leading to a European security treaty; given that it
was a proposal from Medvedev, the Russian delegation had to
raise it to save face. The European Commission praised
SwedenQ,s formulation of the "OSCE ," meaning maintaining not
only the commitments of the Helsinki Final Act, but also all
the acquis (Istanbul, Copenhagen, etc).

Kazakhs, Concept of a "Wise Persons Group" on Tolerance


USOSCE 00000206 002.2 OF 004



5. (SBU) In a September 8 meeting with Poloffs, Kazakh
Deputy Suleimenov presented a non-paper proposing the
establishment of a Wise Persons Group to promote tolerance in
the OSCE region during the upcoming Kazakh Chairmanship.
According to the proposal, the CiO would determine the
activities and monthly two-day meetings of the group, which
would lead to the adoption of a program of action to
facilitate interethnic and interfaith concord. Suggested
candidates include persons with HD experience from various
participating States. The appointment of the 7-10 member
group would further emphasize the KazakhsQ, focus on
tolerance, along with their planned tolerance conference in
September or October 2010. The Kazakhs continue to seek our
input on both proposals.

Kazakhstan Seeks New Asian Partners for OSCE


6. (C) At a meeting with Poloffs on September 8, Kazakh DCM
Usen Suleimenov stated that Kazakhstan is interested in using
its special relationship with a number of Asian countries to
bring them into the OSCE fold as new Partners for
Cooperation. In particular, Kazakhstan thinks that China,
Singapore, Pakistan, and India would be good candidates for
OSCE partnership. Suleimenov noted that Russia has indicated
that it would not oppose partnership for Pakistan, should
that country decide to formally apply; Russian views on the
other potential candidates are unknown. According to
Secretariat officials, with the exception of China, none of
the above countries has ever expressed interest in joining
the partnership. In fact, India has reportedly blocked
cooperation between the OSCE and the ASEAN Regional Forum,
rebuffing the OSCE as a model for Asian political
development.

OMIK HoM Almhofer on Kosovo Elections, Direction of OMIK


7. (C) In a September 9 meeting with CDA Fuller, OSCE
Mission in Kosovo (OMIK) Head of Mission Werner Almhofer
described feeling significant pressure since taking up his
post in October 2008 due to U.S. concerns about the
mission's status neutrality blurring into "status
negativity." He believes this perception is changing, and
pointed to constructive engagement with the CEC on elections
capacity building as indicative of the mission's efforts. He
said there was encouraging progress on elections preparation,
but uncertainty over Serb participation in elections, and
felt Pristina could do much more with economic and
infrastructure assistance to woo Serb municipalities. CDA
Fuller urged him to look for strategic reductions, and
Almhofer said he planned for a 17% reduction in 2010, with
likely decreases in 2011 as well. He described Belgrade's
proposals for reception centers as not clearly within the
mission's mandate, but said a full OMIK feasibility report
to come out in late September would likely leave a window
open for something effort - which he expected to be picked up
ultimately not by OMIK but maybe by the UN or other IOs/NGOs.


OMIK HoM Reports to the Permanent Council


8. (SBU) On September 10 OMIK HoM Almhofer delivered the
second of OMIK's mandated twice-yearly reports to the PC. He
described explicitly OMIK's prominent role in preparing the
CEC for elections, but emphasized there was no executive or
observation role. He stressed the mission's capacity
building activities more than in recent reports. He said

USOSCE 00000206 003 OF 004


that ten years into its existence, the mission was undergoing
serious self-evaluation in order to prioritize, focus and be
more effective, with reductions in store next year not only
on staffing and operations costs but to programmatic areas
that have delivered sustainable results. The EU statement
highlighted, with roughly equal importance, OMIK's human
rights monitoring and its institution/civil society capacity
building efforts. The RF delivered a strident, critical
statement saying the security situation is fragile and the
most serious threat to stability in the region, and calling
on OMIK to stick to status neutrality and a focus on ensuring
respect for minority community rights and helping refugee and
IDP returns as dictated by UNSCR 1244. Japan (a partner
state) made a statement highlighting Japanese contributions
to the Kosovo Judicial Institute and Kosovo's public service
broadcaster RTK. Serbia's statement pledged continued
cooperation on turning Kosovo into a peaceful, multi-ethnic
society, and called on the mission to step up calling out
human rights violations and the publishing of thematic
reports highlighting institutional failings, such as a recent
report on the sale of Kosovo Serb property by third parties
using fraudulent documents.

Serbia, Russia Want OMIK Reception Centers in 2010 Budget


9. (C) According to conversations with members of their
delegations, Serbia and Russia plan to try and insert
Serbia's proposed project for establishing eight reception
centers to provide community and social services to Kosovo
Serbs and other non-Albanians into OMIK's 2010 budget. In a
September 9 conversation the OSCE Secretary General de
Brichambaut told poloff he thought the project was clearly
not within OMIK's mandate, but that the question was how to
help Serbian Ambassador Beham, who is heavily invested in
this proposal due to her personal efforts and pressure from
Belgrade, find a graceful way out. In a potentially related
issue, a member of the RF delegation told poloff that the RF
had no plans to raise objections to OMIK assistance to the
Kosovoo CEC. While the RF doesn't consider it a status
neutral activity they are "closing their eyes" to it with the
understanding that flawed and contested elections could be
dangerously destabilizing.

Mediterranean Conference to Focus on Conflict Prevention,
Migration


10. (SBU) After lengthy discussions on the substance and
possible location of the meeting, the agenda for the OSCEQ,s
annual Mediterranean Partners Conference was finally adopted
by the Permanent Council on September 10. The Conference,
which will be held in Cairo on December 14 and 15, will focus
on best practices in conflict prevention and resolution and
the impact of the current economic crisis on migration in the
wider OSCE area. Participants are also likely to discuss the
controversial issue of whether to bring Palestine in as a
Partner for Cooperation.

UK Opens Fall Round of the FSC


11. (SBU) The fall round of the OSCE's Forum for Security
Cooperation (FSC) opened on September 9 with a presentation
by a British FCO official on the strategic relevance of FSC
issues in the global security context. Meanwhile, the USDel
drew attention to the draft UNSCR 1540 Best Practice Guide,
which is expected to receive the initial consensus it needs
in a FSC working group as soon as September 16. Belarus

USOSCE 00000206 004 OF 004


provided information on its upcoming combined
Belarus-Russia-Kazakhstan exercise "West-2009."

Positions Unchanged as JCG Opens Fall Round:


12. (SBU) During the opening session of the Fall round of
the Joint Consultative Commission (JCG) on September 8, USDel
underscored the U.S. commitment to CFE, noted that Russia's
"suspension" left an ominous gap in CFE's unique transparency
and predictability, observed that Russia had also given
indications of the value it places on the treaty, and called
for efforts to sustain the core functions of the JCG. In
reply, Russia claimed that it was obviously more committed to
A/CFE than the U.S., as Russia had already ratified the
adapted treaty. Germany and the U.S. criticized Russia for
refusing CFE inspections in August and received statements of
support from nine countries. The Chair announced the
cancellation of the September 22 JCG due to a scheduled OSCE
workshop on Small Arms and Light Weapons (SALW).

Countering Terrorism Financing Workshop


13. (U) On September 11, the OSCE hosted a conference,
underwritten in part by the U.S., on preventing the abuse of
non-profit organizations to finance terrorism, bringing
together more than 150 experts from governments,
international organization and civil society. Participants
discussed the current state of the international framework,
with a particular focus on the Financial Action Task Force
recommendations under the aegis of the UN, government
oversight of the non-profit sector, methods and successes in
self-regulation and building governance capacity in the
non-profit sector. A State (EEB) representative made a
presentation on "Protecting Charities and non-profits from
Terrorist Abuse and Exploitation."
FULLER