DAYTON ARTICLE IV - 42ND SRCC: PARTIES WANT OSCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 USOSCE 000073

SIPDIS

STATE FOR VCI/CCA, VCI/NRRC, EUR/RPM, EUR/PRA, EUR/SCE
JCS FOR J-5
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CENTCOM FOR J-5
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E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2019
TAGS: PARM PREL KCFE OSCE BK HR MW SR
SUBJECT: DAYTON ARTICLE IV - 42ND SRCC: PARTIES WANT OSCE
TO STAY

Classified By: Chief Arms Control Delegate H. Neighbour for reasons 1.4
(b and d)


1. (SBU) Summary: The 42nd Dayton Article IV Sub-Regional
Consultative Commission (SRCC),representing the four Parties
to the Dayton Agreement (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia,
Montenegro, and Serbia),met March 16-19 in Split, Croatia.
The SRCC was held in a cooperative and friendly atmosphere,
resulting in easy approval of several documents that had been
prepared and approved in advance by the Permanent Working
Group. The most contentious discussions were reserved for
the issue of ownership of Article IV responsibilities, with
the four Parties seeking to avoid a rapid transfer of
technical responsibilities to them from the OSCE Office of
the Personal Representative (PR) for Dayton Article IV,
headed by Italian Brigadier General Costanzo Periotto. End
summary.

Working Group Prep
--------------


2. (SBU) The Permanent Working Group meeting took place in
Vienna February 16-18. As a result, several documents were
prepared and preliminary decisions made that greatly improved
the efficiency of the March SRCC in Split. Most importantly,
the Dayton Article IV Inspection Schedule for 2009 was
drafted. An early draft was prepared by the Office of the
Personal Representative, but adjustments were made by the
Parties themselves, reportedly with little or no
disagreement.

SRCC Quickly Approves Agenda Items
--------------


3. (SBU) The subsequent 42nd SRCC, a success by all accounts,
resulted in Parties achieving quick agreement on most agenda
items, including adoption of the "Analysis of the
Implementation of Inspections" for 2008 and the "Analysis of
the Annual Info-Exchange for 2009." Both were prepared by
the Office of the Permanent Representative, as has been the
accepted procedure.

2009 Inspection Schedule
--------------


4. (SBU) The Parties also approved, with minimal discussion,
the Dayton Article IV Inspection Schedule for 2009, as
prepared in advance by the Permanent Working Group. In
accordance with the schedule:

- Serbia will accept 6 inspections in 2009 (3 from Croatia, 2
from Bosnia-Herzegovina, and 1 from Montenegro);

- Croatia will accept 5 inspections (3 from Serbia, 1 from
Bosnia, and 1 from Montenegro);

- Bosnia-Herzegovina will accept 4 inspections (2 from
Serbia, 1 from Croatia, and 1 from Montenegro); and

- Montenegro will accept 3 inspections (1 from each other
Party).

This overall formula, roughly corresponding to objects of
verification ratios, symmetrical in numbers of active and
passive inspections made/received, and fully including tiny

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Montenegro, is likely to hold for the near future. With just
18 total inspections, it likely represents the "minimum
necessary formula" needed to ensure continued Treaty
viability, a concept discussed during prior meetings of the
SRCC.

First Inspection in 2009
--------------


5. (SBU) The first Article IV inspection mission for 2009
will take place in Croatia, to be inspected by
Bosnia-Herzegovina from March 30 to April 3. The inspection
team will include assistants from Germany and Romania. The
evaluation team will include assistants from Italy and the
United States.

Independent Inspection Reports
--------------


6. (SBU) An interesting SRCC discussion led to a procedural
change in the dissemination of inspection reports. Reports
will now be disseminated by the Inspecting Party to all other
Parties and the Office of the Permanent Representative.
Previously, the reports were first sent to the Office of the
Permanent Representative for further dissemination. This
represents a very small, but symbolic, move toward increased
"ownership" as it applies to technical Article IV operations
and management. This discussion, initiated by the Personal
Representative, Brig Gen Periotto, lead to the unintended
consequence of all four Parties requesting access to the
independent inspection reports prepared by assistants from
countries that are not a part of the Treaty. After some
initial hesitation, Periotto declared his "positive
inclination" to meet this request while needing a short
period to set up an appropriate dissemination mechanism.


7. (SBU) Other discussions led to productive movement on
issues such as voluntary limits on numbers of military
personnel and the better use of the Integrated Notification
Applications (INA) communication and notification system.
Additionally, Croatia made a special intervention to update
the SRCC on ongoing Croatian reductions in Armaments Limited
by the Agreement ("ALA," a term synonymous with "TLE" under
the CFE Treaty). In total, 113 items of Croatian ALA at
eight different military locations were reduced in early

2009. These reduced items are to be used as ground targets
or as static displays. Serbia conducted a supplemental
Article IV inspection in Croatia from March 10 to 12 to
partly verify this reduction. The Serbian team inspected the
largest grouping of ALA at the Jedinstvo facility, concluding
that "the 51 ALA present were no longer utilizable for
military purposes."

Transfer of Ownership to Parties
--------------


8. (SBU) The most serious discussions were reserved for the
"transfer of ownership" of Article IV responsibilities,
whereby the parties would gradually take ownership of
responsibilities currently shouldered by the OSCE Office of
the Personal Representative (PR). All four Parties, citing
personnel and funding shortfalls, pushed against the PR's
efforts to transfer more substantive ownership issues such as
formulating inspection plans, analyzing inspection results
and the annual data exchange, and support functions such as

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interpretation and administrative support.


9. (C) Periotto, the PR, firmly believes that the pushback on
ownership is due more to the regional political situation in
the Balkans than to funding shortfalls. He opined privately
that given the problematic political situation in BiH and
Kosovo, there is little desire by the parties to see a
withdrawal of international support to Dayton Article IV
because it would effectively risk removing perceived
political stability and legitimacy from this otherwise
successful arms control regime.


10. (C) COMMENT: Given ongoing uncertainties about the
situation in Bosnia and Kosovo and the apparent success of
the present division of responsibilities between the Personal
Representative and the Parties, Mission recommends against
any transfer of additional responsibilities to the Parties at
this time. END COMMENT.


11. (U) Dayton Article IV was established in 1996 and is
patterned after the treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in
Europe. It is a successful arms control regime under the
auspices of the OSCE for what are now the four states of the
former Yugoslavia: Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of
Croatia, Montenegro, and the Republic of Serbia.
SCOTT