VZCZCXRO3773
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHVB #0399/01 1131523
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 231523Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7581
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ZAGREB 000399 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL OSCE HR REGIONAL AFFAIRS
SUBJECT: OSCE MISSION HEAD OPTIMISTIC ON CLOSURE, FLEXIBLE 
ON TIMING 
 
 
(U) SUMMARY AND COMMENT: OSCE Mission Head Fuentes told the 
diplomatic corps April 11 that he is optimistic about 
completing work on the mission's mandate and closing the 
mission.  Noting that four of six mandate-related files are 
closed (Media, political freedom, police reform and civil 
society), Fuentes said he would not "close the doors" until 
further progress is achieved in two other areas (refugee 
returns and reintegration, and rule of law/war-crimes 
monitoring).  He predicted that all but war-crimes 
monitoring, which involves a time-consuming building of NGO 
capacity, would be completed by the end of the year.  Fuentes 
also reported that he had briefed Prime Minister Sanader on 
progress toward mission closure, and the PM clearly 
acknowledged the need to engage actively on these issues. 
 
¶2. (SBU) Fuentes has not given up on Mission closure, but the 
earful he got in Vienna in early April and the regular 
opposition of a small but vocal group of local Ambassadors 
has led him to change his strategy.  He is now working to 
build more understanding of and support for mission closure. 
A small residual presence to continue capacity-building for 
war-crimes monitoring may be the compromise needed to 
reassure doubters, including small Embassies which use the 
OSCE as a "free" source of information from the field, while 
acknowledging enormous progress made by the GOC on the other 
issues and allowing both sides to declare victory.  Septel 
will report discussion of these issues in most recent session 
of the "3   1" (OSCE, UNHCR, EC and U.S. Ambassador) with 
Minister Kalmeta.  END SUMMARY AND COMMENT 
 
¶3. (U) OSCE Head of Mission Jorge Fuentes invited all 
resident Ambassadors (including non-OSCE members) to an April 
11 briefing to discuss the OSCE mission's mandate and recent 
developments.  Fuentes summarized his recent Vienna trip and 
spoke reassuringly in terms of not setting a date for mission 
closure until additional progress has been made on 
mandate-related issues.  Expressing optimism, Fuentes noted 
that four of six mission units dealing with these issues have 
been closed (those dealing with the Media, Political issues, 
Police reform, and Civil Society) and the final two (Rule of 
Law and Return and Reintegration) are proceeding well. 
 
¶4. (U) On the final two units, Fuentes broke down the 
mandate-related work as follows: 
 
-- Refugees:  A GOC plan for "completion" exists, providing 
housing to refugees who currently wish to return and keeping 
the door open for others.  The GOC will purchase 400 
apartments outside the war-affected "Area of Special State 
Concern" (ASSC) and 1000 inside ASSC by the end of 2007. 
This is only a beginning of the process, Fuentes emphasized, 
but we need to see "an irreversible trend" in order to close 
down. 
 
-- Sarajevo Declaration: Fuentes listed outstanding issues as 
convalidation (pension credit for returnees who were employed 
under the rebel-Serb administrations), the law on foreigners 
(easing the requirements for proving Croatian citizenship), 
unsolicited investment in refugee property during their 
absence, and the war crimes indictees list (currently being 
reviewed by the office of the chief state prosecutor, this 
affects some 1,100 individuals).  The SD process is largely 
finished, he noted, or at least progressing.  Compensation 
for those who once occupied socialize housing (holders of 
"Occupancy-tenancy rights" or OTR) who do not wish to return 
is a bilateral topic between GOC and Bosnia and Serbia. 
(Note: Regional OSCE missions disagree on this issue.  OTR 
was handled differently in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for 
example, but there is no universal agreement on how to 
compensate former OTR holders.  The GOC has committed to 
provide housing to any former OTR holder who wishes to return 
to Croatia and whose pre-war housing is no longer available; 
the OSCE mission here, and the Embassy, see this as an 
adequate response.  End Note). 
 
-- Rule of Law:  Fuentes emphasized that the Mission's 
mandate is to create institutional capacity, which is largely 
completed by four main accomplishments: OSCE reinforced the 
Constitutional Court for human rights concerns and helped 
establish the Ombudsman.  Funding for both will be picked up 
fully by the GOC later this year.  The law providing for Free 
Legal Aid should be passed in July, and National Minorities 
Law, although slow to be implemented, is under review. OSCE 
will hold another roundtable to further attention on the 
issue. 
 
-- War crimes monitoring:  Fuentes distinguished between "11 
bis cases" transferred from the ICTY to Croatian courts 
(Ademi-Norac) and the more than 200 domestic trials being 
monitored.  The GOC has suggested a panel of international 
jurists who could monitor trials, but this would apply only 
 
ZAGREB 00000399  002 OF 002 
 
 
to ICTY transfer cases (11 bis and category 2 and 3 - about 
seven cases) rather than domestic ones.  For domestic cases 
(as suggested by the U.S. Embassy), the OSCE is considering 
how to reinforce NGO capacity and provide training to judges 
on war crimes cases.  Knowledge transfer is slow and 
difficult.  Fuentes reminded his audience that the OSCE's 
agreement with ICTY to monitor cases applies only as long as 
the OSCE presence remains.  Of all the above issues, Fuentes 
estimated that this is the only one that cannot be completed 
by the end of the year. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Fuentes reported that he had met PM Sanader earlier 
in the day, at the PM's request, to discuss the OSCE's 
mandate and how the GOC can make more progress.  Fuentes said 
he provided the following targets: 1) OTR apartments outside 
and inside ASSC (400   1000;) 2) a solution to the 
convalidation problem;  3) improved National Minorities law 
implementation, specifically requesting the PM's 
participation at OSCE's May 4 Roundtable; and 4) better GOC 
communication with local administration on policies set 
determined in Zagreb.  Fuentes said he was confident the 
refugee-related items would be resolved by the end of the 
year, and once again received the PM's commitment to solve 
the convalidation problem.  Fuentes later told poloff that 
the PM mentioned several times A/S Fried's points on the need 
to make progress toward Mission closure, and understood the 
importance of his role in it. 
 
¶6. (U) Fuentes emphasized that there will be some type of 
OSCE presence in 2008, but it could be very minimal (possibly 
only administrative to close the office).  The mission has 
already downsized significantly, from 750 full-time employees 
in 2001, to 214 in 2005, to 147 currently.  Perhaps thirty to 
forty may remain into 2008.  He listed several key dates for 
the Mission in 2007: 
April: program outline for 2008 budget.  Fuentes will prepare 
for a "flexible" mission, requesting funding for 2008, which 
can be returned if necessary. 
July: semi-annual report on Croatia; possible visit by PM 
Sanader to Vienna. 
September - budget discussions. 
November - Ministerial Council in Spain. 
BRADTKE