Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09USOSCE292
2009-12-24 11:40:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Mission USOSCE
Cable title:  

OSCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS: DECEMBER 9 - 18, 2009

Tags:  MARR OSCE PGOV PREL PHUM RU MD HR AF KZ 
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RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA PRIORITY 0017
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RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 0163
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RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
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RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
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RHMCSUU/EUCOM POLAD VAIHINGEN GE PRIORITY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 07 USOSCE 000292 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2019
TAGS: MARR OSCE PGOV PREL PHUM RU MD HR AF KZ
SUBJECT: OSCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS: DECEMBER 9 - 18, 2009

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

Special Reps to Revisit Proposed Support Team for South
Ossetia Region

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 07 USOSCE 000292

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/18/2019
TAGS: MARR OSCE PGOV PREL PHUM RU MD HR AF KZ
SUBJECT: OSCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS: DECEMBER 9 - 18, 2009

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

Special Reps to Revisit Proposed Support Team for South
Ossetia Region


1. (SBU) Staff in the OSCE Secretariat's Conflict Prevention
Center (CPC) told PolOff December 8 that Special Representative
Christopoulos and Special Representative-designate Nurgaliev intend to
visit Tbilisi and Tskhinvali December 14 and 15 to revisit the idea of
establishing a small team to support the OSCE's participation
in the Geneva Talks and the IPRM for the South Ossetia
region. Some in the CPC are optimistic there might be a
window of opportunity to move ahead, highlighting as positive
factors Nurgaliev's quick agreement to the trip, his likely
rapport with the South Ossetians and the Russians (South
Ossetian authorities reportedly agreed to the visit quickly
and without preconditions),and the Kazakhstanis' presumed
interest in achieving a quick deliverable for their OSCE
Chairmanship. Others in the CPC are less optimistic there
will be any immediate progress, noting the South Ossetians
continue to object to OSCE involvement in the region. Greek
and Kazakhstani representatives told PolOff they expected no immediate
breakthrough, and added that Christopoulos and Nurgaliev planned simply
to gauge all sides' interest in the team. Georgian PermRep
Gaprindashvili downplayed expectations, but expressed hope that South
Ossetian authorities would be more open to cooperation, as
Nurgaliev likely would be "emotionally more acceptable than
any European."

Moldova Says Ministerial Negotiations Useful, Outcome
Unsurprising


2. (SBU) A Moldovan representative told PolOff December 8
that negotiations in Athens on a Ministerial statement on
Moldova had allowed for useful discussions, even though they
had broken down (as expected) over long-standing
disagreements on the CFE Treaty, the Istanbul Commitments,
the presence of Russian peacekeepers in the Transnistrian

region, and other issues. On a related note, a CPC
representative said he expected no major developments in 2010
on efforts to resolve the Transnistria conflict, but believed
the informal bilateral meetings between lead negotiators
Osipov and Yastrebchak would continue (the next reportedly
could take place as early as December 12),and thought
progress on confidence- and security-building measures was
possible. Meanwhile, talk of a possible 3 2 visit to
Chisinau and Tiraspol in December seems to have faded,
following the December 7 failure of the Moldovan parliament
to elect a president.

EU Troika Discusses Athens Aftermath and Corfu Process Status


3. (SBU) In a meeting with the EU Troika on December 9,
Swedish Ambassador Bard-BringQus lauded the outcome of the
Athens Ministerial Conference. She stated that Athens
produced the most substance since the 1999 Istanbul Summit,
especially in the areas of European security dialogue through
the Corfu Process and the future of the 2nd Dimension. She
expressed a desire to address "the 'almost decisions,'"
specifically the freedom of the media and climate change
decisions that did not reach consensus. For example,
Bard-Bringeus mentioned that Russia was more positive to the
Climate Change decision than usual this year, which could
signal greater cooperation in the future. Regarding the
status of the Corfu Process, the Swedish Ambassador

USOSCE 00000292 002 OF 007


recognized that it has turned Russia into a stakeholder for
European security, while solidifying the OSCE as primary
forum for European security dialogue. She noted that there
seems to be a move away from zero-sum mentality in terms of
security dialogue and also welcomed Deputy Secretary Steinberg,s
positive statements about the Corfu Process. She appreciated
the four U.S. priorities (conflict prevention, transnational
threats, energy security and freedom of the media)
Deputy Steinberg outlined in his plenary intervention.

Positive Reception for ODIHR Report on Elections in
Afghanistan


4. (SBU) The Head of the ODIHR, Ambassador Janez Lenarcic,
presented the Final Report from the OSCE/ODIHR Election
Support Team (EST) for Afghanistan to the PC December 10.
The report described widespread fraud, corruption and
violence and serious problems with the Independent Election
Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission. In their
responses most pS noted the numerous detailed recommendations
for election reform and promised to study them. Turkey
emphatically said it should be up to Afghanistan to decide
whether to consider the recommendations. The Russian
Federation (RF) welcomed the report's conclusions and
recommendations and noted Moscow's support for the U.S.
Administration's updated strategy for Afghanistan and
Pakistan regarding the transfer of responsibility of
Afghanistan to the Afghans. Deviating from his written text,
however, Ambassador Azimov questioned the "usefulness of OSCE
involvement in Afghanistan" and noted that "we don't have the
right to risk lives (Afghanistan is only an OSCE partner." In
response, the Afghan representative welcomed ODIHR's
recommendations and thanked pS for financially supporting the EST.
Specifically in response to an EST recommendation that the Afghan
Government consider postponing upcoming elections, the Afghan
representative said delay was not an option, because, "to delay would
risk everything we've gained. Elections will be held in 2010."
In closing, Lenarcic said the timing of upcoming elections
"is clearly the sovereign right of the Government of
Afghanistan (however our mandate was to make recommendations,
which is what we did." He welcomed an Afghan invitation to
travel to Kabul the first week of February to deliver the
report in person. During the Chair's subsequent private
lunch, he stated frankly that the international meeting on
Afghanistan in London January 28 will be critical to deal
with the corruption issues and that if another election were
to happen in 2010 like the last one; the electoral system in
Afghanistan will be "damaged
beyond hope."

OSCE Office in Zagreb Extended Through 2010


5. (SBU) At the December 10 PC meeting pS agreed to a
decision extending the mandate of the Office in Zagreb
through the end of 2010. The decision also includes consensus
versions of two paragraphs originally proposed by the
Croatian delegation, this text recognizes "the significant
progress achieved by the GoC in implementing its commitments
in many fields in both areas of the mandate of the Office"
and tasks the Office to produce a status report by the end of
2010 to be used as the basis for PS to evaluate fulfillment
of the mandate and mandate-related tasks. The Croats sought
to add this language once they realized that closing the
office this year was not a possibility, and carefully
choreographed its rollout with consultations with the U.S.

USOSCE 00000292 003 OF 007


starting Nov 20 and with the help of the Greek CiO who hosted
informal consultations on Dec 7 with the U.S., RF, Germany,
France, UK, NL, Finland, Sweden, Kazakhstan, and the
Secretariat. The language, which was carefully calibrated
from the beginning to be broadly acceptable to all pS,
met little resistance during these consultations and
later negotiations, except from Serbia who sought to make the
tone more neutral and make the reference to progress
more ambiguous. During remarks in the PC the Serbs also
recalled a recent ICTY report in which prosecutor
Brammertz gave a mixed report on Croatia's cooperation with
the ICTY; Croatia rebutted this firmly as being unrelated and
not relevant to the mandate of the Office.

Switzerland Deflects Criticism of Ban on New Minarets


6. (U) At the PC on Dec 10, Swiss Ambassador Marfurt
announced his government's plans to implement the
construction ban on new minarets as stipulated by the Nov 29
referendum* which it had tried to defeat. Calling the vote
"an expression of a defensive attitude towards a globalised
world in times of economic crises," he claimed it would not
interfere with the freedom of religious expression of roughly
400,000 Muslims living in Switzerland. Should the European
Court of Human Rights judge the ban to be unlawful, however,
"Switzerland would be obliged to study it very carefully,"
Marfurt said, hinting that the Swiss government is looking
for international help in form of condemnation to justify
reversing the ban. The EU noted positively the concern
expressed by the Swiss Foreign Minister Calmy-Rey at the
Athen's Ministerial and urged Switzerland to fully respect
OSCE commitments regarding freedom of belief.

EU Critical of Kyrgyzstan Treatment of Human Rights Defenders


7. (U) The EU issued a statement at the OSCE Permanent
Council of December 10th criticizing actions taken by the
government of Kyrgyzstan in the last 14 months against human
rights defenders in Kyrgyzstan. Among the actions taken in
four different cases was the denial of entry into the country
including a ban of significant length, deportation,
harassment and confiscation of materials. The EU
characterized this as a "worrying trend in Kyrgyzstan to
obstruct the work of human rights defenders" and urged Kyrgyz
authorities to put an end to the harassment. The Ambassador
of Kyrgyzstan said she would forward the statement to her
government, but then asserted that Kyrgyzstan is a member of
all significant international human rights documents and that
if a NGO is acting within the law and its mandates, the
Kyrgyz government will present no obstacles. She also
mentioned that civil society in Kyrgyzstan enjoys many
freedoms, such as freedom of expression for NGOs, but freedom
of expression also includes a measure of responsibility.

International Human Rights Day Commemoration


8. (SBU) Both the EU and U.S. delegations commemorated
December 10 as International Human Rights Day, which marks
the 61st Anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Both
statements focused on international obligations and OSCE
commitments regarding the respect of human rights and
fundamental freedoms, democracy and the rule of law. The EU
expressed its regrets that decisions on the rule of law and
media freedom did not pass and that the Hate Crimes decision

USOSCE 00000292 004 OF 007


did not include a reference to sexual orientation and gender
identity. Similarly, the U.S. delegation noted its concern
over human rights violations and acts of violence directed at
individuals on account of their sexual orientation or gender
identity and urged respect for the human rights of lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in the OSCE region
and around the world. The Russian Federation also offered an
intervention that, while mentioning that the principles of
the UFDR are important, centered on the revival and danger of Nazism,
Fascism and extreme racial ideologies.

Central Asians Not United


9. (SBU) In an exchange of views on the Athens Ministerial,
Russian Ambassador Anwar Azimov admitted to Charge Carol
Fuller that there had been a backlash against him from
Turkmenistan and especially Uzbekistan, which had both
rejected his strong arming for them to join consensus on the
decision on Freedom of the Media. In the end, Uzbekistan
publicly rejected the decision, saying only that they could
accept no decision that was "subject to a political deal."
In a similar exchange, Kazakh ambassador Kairat Abdrakmanov
confided that Uzbekistan had changed the positive language in
the final Corfu Declaration on the Summit sought so dearly by
Kazakhstan in the Corfu Declaration because, although
Uzbekistan agrees there should be a Summit, they want it to
be "either before or after 2010, but not during 2010"Q*the
year of the Kazakh OSCE Chairmanship. He admitted that
relations with Uzbekistan on some issues in the region are
good, but not on others, and that the issue of the Aral Sea
is particularly difficult. When asked if Uzbekistan might be given
some leadership role under the Kazakh chairmanship, he suggested that
fighting extremism and radicalism might be an option because
of serious concerns in the Ferghana Valley. Asked again
about Russia's blockage of OSCE training inside Afghanistan,
he repeated "we are working on it."

Greeks Reverse Course on Partner Involvement in the Corfu
Process


10. (SBU) At the December 11 joint meeting of the Asian and
Mediterranean Contact Groups, Greek Amb. Marinaki announced
that henceforth Partners would be invited to be an "active
component" in the Corfu Process. This is a complete reversal
in the Greek position, as they had previously resisted even
giving the Partners the most basic summary of discussions
taking place in the informal Ambassadorial-level Corfu
meetings throughout the Fall. The Partners, clearly delighted
with this change, thanked Amb Marinaki for the invitation and
expressed their expectation to be "very frequent"
participants in the informal Corfu Process meetings in 2010.
The Greeks subsequently issued an invitation to all pS and
Partners to attend the final informal Corfu session of the
year on December 17, which will discuss the way forward. With
this announcement, the Greeks have (intentionally or not)
short-circuited the Corfu Process decision adopted last week
in Athens. The decision specifies that the Chairmanship,
"after close consultation with participating States" will invite the
Partners for Cooperation and other guests to contribute to discussions
on an ad hoc basis. To our knowledge, the Greeks did not
consult with any pS before issuing what amounts to a standing
invitation to the Partners.

Joint US-Russian Training Project in Afghanistan?


USOSCE 00000292 005 OF 007



11. (SBU) Russian ambassador Azimov told ChargQ that the RF
would indeed like to find some joint projects for the US,
Russia, and perhaps the EU to implement next year under the
OSCE ministerial decision on transnational threats
co-sponsored by the US and Russia. ChargQ said that it was
too bad FM Lavrov objected to OSCE training in Afghanistan
because it might be interesting to explore a joint US/Russia
training project for the OSCE. To ChargQ's surprise, Azimov
responded this might actually be interesting and recommended
that the two ministers discuss it.

Representative for Freedom of the Media


12. (SBU) Greek CiO is reportedly trying to convince three
countries to withdraw their candidates in favor of the
leading candidate Bosnian Dunja Mijatovic so the appointment
can be made by the Greeks this year. Russian ambassador Anwar
Azimov told ChargQ today that the RF believes its candidate,
Mikhail Fedotov, is the most qualified. He confided that
Fedotov had appealed to the president Medvedev for support so
that it will be difficult for the RF to withdraw him.
Moreover, he said there is no hurry since Harazsti's term
doesn't end until MarchQ*under the Kazakh CiO.

Kazakhstan appoints Special and Personal Representatives for
2010


13. (SBU) On Oct 16 Kazakhstan shared with us a list of
confirmed Special and Personal CiO Representatives (SRs and
PRs) for 2010 including Mr. Bolat Nurgaliev as SR for
Protracted Conflicts; Mr. Andrzej Kasprzyk as PR on the
conflict dealt with by the OSCE Minsk Conference; Mr.
Costanzo Periotto as PR for Article IV of Annex 1B of the
Dayton Peace Accords in September 2007; Mr. Helmut Napiontek
as OSCE Representative to the Latvian-Russian Joint
Commission on Military Pensioners; Mr. Struan Stevenson as PR
on Ecology; and Mr. Vitautas Nauduzas as PR on Transport. The
list also included three Special Envoys for Elections: Mr.
Kimmo Kiljunen for Election Observation Mechanisms, Mr. Jes#s
L"pez-Medel B scones for Election Observation and Mr. Marat
Sarsembayev for Election Issues. Mr. A. Akhishev is named as
Head of the High-Level Planning Group, Ambassador Heiner
Horsten (Germany) as Chair of the Security Committee,
Ambassador Alyaksandr Sychov (Belarus) as Chair of the
Economic and Environmental Committee and Ambassador Ana Martinho
(Portugal) as Chair of the Humanitarian Committee. The three Personal
Representatives for Tolerance, Mr. Adil Akhmetov for Combating
Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims, Mr. Mario Mauro for
Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination against
Christians, and Rabbi Andrew Baker for Combating
Anti-Semitism received reappointments. Kazakhstan said it
may nominate additional Representatives) including one on
Women's issues) who are expected to be announced shortly.

EU Shares Concern Over Kazakh Special Elections
Representatives


14. (SBU) At the weekly US/EU meeting) the last one with
Sweden in the EU Presidency) Ambassador Bard-BringQus
shared our concerns about Kazakhstan's appointment of three
Special Envoys for Elections. Although it is the prerogative
of the Chair to appoint its own representatives, we need to
make clear to the Kazakhstanis that they should not use these
positions to encroach on ODIHR's independence or second
guess its role in election observation.

USOSCE 00000292 006 OF 007



Russia, Others Reiterate Contradictory Assessments of
Abkhazia Elections


15. (SBU) Following EU and U.S. statements at the December
17 Permanent Council meeting rejecting the legitimacy of the
December 12 presidential "elections" in the Abkhazia region
of Georgia, Russia again declared its decision to recognize
the region's independence "irreversible and irrevocable"
and argued that the "elections" reflected public support
for building a democratic state based on the rule of law.
Russia noted that a fourth country (Nauru) had recognized
Abkhazia's independence, said others were considering doing
the same, and declared that participating States should be
"mindful" of this reality. In response, Georgia declared
the "elections" fraudulent, noted that many citizens
continued to be denied basic rights, and reiterated its call
for Russia to end its occupation of Georgian territory.

PC Exchange on Zhovtis Case


16. (SBU) In response to U.S. and EU interventions at the
December 17 PC criticizing the recent Kazakh judicial refusal
to review the Zhovtis case, Russian ambassador Azimov
implored pS to have "respect" for Kazakhstan as the incoming
chair. "Imagine if you continue this, how it will be if
Russia raises every human rights violations in Lithuania when
they become the Chair!" Azimov said he did not rule out
that Zhovtis might be pardoned but concluded that a
"criminal should sit in prison; that is the law." For its
part, Kazakhstan raised the same tired response it has twice
previously submitted, to wit: Zhovtis, like 163 others was
convicted in a trial that was "as transparent, open and
unbiased as possible" where numerous Kazakhstani and
international observers had "unimpeded access to the trial
and the appeal." In a discussion with poloff after the PC,
Kazakhstani DCM Usen Suleimenov angrily said A/S Blake just
visited Kazakhstan and the Zhovtis case had been Q&fully
explained to him." When poloff offered to meet later to discuss the
case, Suleimenov said, "No, forget about this case."

EU/U.S. Note Closure of Democratic Society Party in Turkey


17. (SBU) Sweden, on behalf of the EU, at the December 17
PC stated its concern with the Turkish Constitutional Court
decision to close the Democratic Society Party (DTP) and
called upon Turkey to make the necessary constitutional
amendments to bring its legislation on political parties in
line with international commitments. In a much more muted
tone, the U.S. encouraged all political actors in Turkey to
pursue reconciliation, reflect democratic values, and refrain
from the use or encouragement of violence. In response,
Turkey noted that since the judgment has not yet been issued,
preliminary reactions might not factor in all the evidence
and legal reasoning that led to the decision. Turkey also
stressed that relevant case-law of the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR),particularly its recent decision on a
similar case where a political party was dissolved by a court
decision in one of the EU member States, had been taking into
account in this process. (Note: It is likely Turkey is
referring to the June 2009 ECHR confirmation of a Spanish Supreme Court
ruling to ban the Basque Batasuma Party.)

Office in Zagreb Report Says 2008 Housing Care Benchmarks in
Last Phase

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18. (U) The December 16 biweekly report from the OSCE Office
in Zagreb says final verification visits of 2009 show that
the Housing Care benchmark for areas outside the Area of
Special State Concern (ASSC) have been fulfilled. Further
visits in early 2010 will be needed to see if outstanding
cases inside the ASSC have been resolved. Primarily at issue
are 68 cases where the HC recipients have not appeared to
sign contracts, a Plenary decision in early 2010 will
determine whether these cases should be considered resolved.
The Office's October 2009 status report said that an
additional approximately 1,500 families would need to be
accommodated in 2010 to fulfill the 2009 benchmarks.

Albania Likely to Push For Reductions in Presence Budget for
2011


19. (SBU) In a December 17 meeting a member of the
Albanian delegation told poloffs that progress on reforms in
Albania will warrant reductions in the 2011 budget of the
OSCE Presence in Albania. Albania will likely not seek
changes to the mandate as they did during negotiations on the
extension of the Presence's mandate at the end of 2007
because of the controversy this caused, but will instead try
to bring about reductions to its activities through budget
negotiations in 2010. The delegate mentioned phasing out the
OSCE's role in facilitation of cross-border cooperation
meetings with neighboring states on border management and
policing, and elimination of some of the Presence's second
dimension activities such as promoting better governance in
waste management. Also mentioned was the potential to close
one or more of the four project offices outside Tirana,
particularly the office in Kukes, with the justification that
this area can now be effectively covered from Tirana with the
completion of new transportation infrastructure and reduced travel
time.

CiO Personal Rep For Transport Visiting Vienna to Discuss
Mandate


20. (SBU) A member of the Lithuanian delegation told USDEL
on Dec 15 that Lithuanian Ambassador-at-large Vytautas
Nauduzas will be visiting Vienna Dec 17-18 for discussions
with the Kazakhstanis on the mandate that will define his
role as the CiO's Personal Representative (PR) on
transportation issues during 2010. Nauduzas, who is currently
attached to the MFA's Economic Security Policy Department,
formerly served as the Lithuanian Ambassador to Turkey and as
the Deputy Minister of Economy. He represented Lithuania and
presented at the July 2009 Chairmanship conference on energy
security held in Bratislava. The draft mandate under
discussion would have him representing the CiO at conferences
and similar events and with the UNECE and other IOs. The
Lithuanian delegation said it is apparent that Kazakhstan
will also take advantage of this PR where possible to promote
their plans for road networks linking Europe to China and to
Afghanistan.
FULLER