SERBIAN AMBASSADOR COURTESY CALL

UNCLAS UNESCO PARIS FR 000148

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED

State pass to Interior Department National Park Service - Steve
Morris

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL UNESCO YI
SUBJECT: SERBIAN AMBASSADOR COURTESY CALL


1. (SBU) Summary: Serbia's new ambassador to UNESCO, Dr. Zorica
TOMIC, paid a courtesy call on Ambassador Killion today, 8 February,
at the US Mission offices. Tomic wasted no time in hitting her
number one issue, World Heritage sites in Kosovo, and asked that the
United States support Serbian efforts to keep UNESCO "politically
neutral." End summary.


2. (SBU) Tomic demanded that the brackets added at the 2008 Quebec
World Heritage Committee meeting around the word Serbia on the title
of the Kosovo World Heritage sites be erased, calling it a "symbolic
castration". She said that Serbia has the need to "preserve our
roots, our heritage", and added that "for us (Serbia),Kosovo is
what Jerusalem is to the Jewish people," noting that she cannot
imagine it not being connected to our country.


3. (SBU) Ambassador Tomic said that President Tadic is working to
find a "common and civilized approach" to the Kosovo problem. She
added that the Serbian government is doing everything to find
opportunities for dialogue, but the "so-called entity - not even a
country", is making it clear that they do not want any dialogue.
Tomic said that this is not good for the region. Again, she said
that being a small country, the idea of "cutting out a section of
Serbia is not a possibility".


4. (SBU) Tomic said that she will be going to Brasilia this summer
for the next World Heritage meeting, and indicated that she hopes to
convince the United States that it should take a "neutral position"
at UNESCO regarding Kosovo.


5. (SBU) Ambassador Killion noted that given our bilateral
relations, we can find ways to work together on other issues at
UNESCO. In response, Tomic said that Serbia has proposed an
education tool based on Facebook that has gotten the interest of
Executive Board Chairman Mitrofanova. Mission will follow-up to
learn more about this project.


6. (SBU) Tomic also expressed interest in improving UNESCO's efforts
in girls education. She mentioned that Serbia has been working on a
similar project targeting girls and women in rural areas in Serbia.



7. (SBU) Comment: Tomic made it clear that she will be primarily
focused on one issue at UNESCO. Her priority is convincing Member
States that UNESCO should do nothing to cast doubt on Serbia's claim
to Kosovo. It is likely that the Serbian ambassador will have some
success. We have found that Serbia enjoys some support at UNESCO.
Although UNESCO's new director-general comes from Bulgaria, a
country that has recognized Kosovo, we find many members of the
Secretariat at lower levels remain sympathetic to Belgrade. With
regard to the labeling of World Heritage sites in Kosovo, it does
not help that Brazil, a state that does not recognize Kosovo, is
this year's chair of the World Heritage Committee (WHC) and will
preside at the WHC's annual meeting which will be held in July in
Brasilia. For a more favorable attitude, we will have to wait until
2011 when Bahrain, a recognizer of Kosovo, takes the World Heritage
chair. End comment. KILLION