BIH ACTION REQUEST: PERMREP SEEKS U.S. HELP TO

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 000167

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/19/2019
TAGS: PREL PGOV UNSC BK
SUBJECT: BIH ACTION REQUEST: PERMREP SEEKS U.S. HELP TO
PREPARE FOR POSSIBLE SECURITY COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP

Classified By: Ambassador Susan Rice for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (C) SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST. In a brief introductory
call with Ambassador Rice, incoming Bosnia and Herzegovina
PermRep Ivan Barbalic said his immediate focus is on
preparing his mission to take on the extra workload that will
come with Bosnia's likely Security Council membership in
2010-2011. Barbalic said he believes his mission is not yet
ready to undertake the extra responsibilities and he has
therefore made performing an assessment of the Mission's
needs and obtaining the necessary resources from Sarajevo his
top priority. Ambassador Rice offered U.S. assistance and
experience to help Ambassador Barbalic to prepare for the
responsibilities of membership, which Barbalic readily
welcomed. USUN recommends early engagement with BiH to help
them prepare for eventual Council membership. END SUMMARY
AND ACTION REQUEST.


2. (C) Ambassador Ivan Barbalic, who arrived in New York in
January as the new PermRep of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH),
paid a brief introductory call on Ambassador Rice on February

19. Barbalic said his current focus was on performing an
assessment of the additional resources that would be
necessary for his mission to carry out the extra
responsibilities of Security Council membership. He said he
understood that BiH needed to continue to focus on obtaining
votes for the elections, but added that he realistically
believed BiH's election to be likely, given the recent
endorsement of the Eastern European Group. His more
immediate focus, he said, was "less on campaigning, and more
on creating a structure" for the BiH Mission in New York,
which would need to be reformed in preparation for likely
membership. He said he would at a minimum need to double the
staff of the mission, which currently stood at 10. He also
identified a need to improve communication between the UN
Mission and the Foreign Ministry and tri-presidency in
Sarajevo. The tri-presidency has made BiH election to the
Council a top priority, he said, but the decision making
process in the presidency is complex, and the Foreign
Ministry can be "bureaucratic".


3. (C) Ambassador Rice offered assistance from the U.S. to
help BiH understand the demands that will be placed on the
mission and the Foreign Ministry as a Council member, and to
help determine what skill sets might be needed in the mission
during BiH's possible tenure on the Council. She asked
Barbalic what his focus might be if BiH were to win a seat,
and what it might bring to the Council. Barbalic answered,
frankly, that he had not begun to think about areas of focus,
as he was currently concentrating on building the capacity of
his mission. He thought that BiH could bring to the Council
its experience with multi-cultural dialogue and its
experience as a state that had gone from being the recipient
of international assistance to a decision maker on the
international stage. Ambassador Barbalic readily welcomed
any assistance the U.S. could offer to help prepare for 2010.


4. (C) COMMENT AND ACTION REQUEST. Barbalic pointed out in
the meeting that he is a political appointee, not a career
diplomat, and it was evident in this meeting that he also
understands that he and his mission will face tremendous
challenges in preparing to win election to the Council and in
fulfilling Bosnia's responsibilities as a member. Like
Barbalic, we believe BiH's election to the Council to be
likely, and we will want to offer early assistance to Bosnia
and Herzegovina to prepare for 2010. We will follow up with
the BiH mission in the coming weeks to see if there are
specific areas where we could be useful. We recommend that
the Department also reach out to the BiH Ministry of Foreign
of Affairs to offer the benefit of our experience as a
permanent member and to help with resource planning. END
COMMENT AND ACTION REQUEST.
Rice