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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 USOSCE 000036 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/10/2019 
TAGS: OSCE PGOV PREL MARR KZ KV RS GG AL
SUBJECT: OSCE WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS: FEBRUARY 1 - 5, 2010 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Carol Fuller for reasons 1.4 (b) and ( 
d) 
 
CDA Fuller Meets Albanian DFM Edith Harxhi 
 
¶1. (SBU) In a January 27 meeting with CDA Fuller, Albanian 
Deputy Foreign Minister Edith Harxhi sounded hopeful the SP 
would return to parliament before March and said the GoA was 
waiting to see what SP Leader Rama's next move would be upon 
his return from a trip to the United States.  On the Balkans 
in general, Harxhi was pessimistic, commenting that the EU 
needed to step up and quit relying on the United States.  She 
said Macedonia was "in bad shape" with stagnation on the name 
issue and criticized the GoM for pushing a policy of making 
Macedonian language mandatory for ethnic Albanians but not 
vice-versa.  She said that in her meeting with the 
Kazakhstani delegation, her interlocutors seemed uninterested 
in the Balkans and poorly informed, particularly on Kosovo. 
Regarding Albania's bid for the 2014 Chairmanship, Harxhi 
said the GoA is working on a strategy paper and plans to 
increase the size of its OSCE delegation by adding three 
diplomats in the near future.  CDA Fuller encouraged Harxhi 
to consider closer consultations with Lithuania regarding 
Albania's preparations for the Chairmanship; to look at 
seconding MFA staff to other countries and to OSCE 
institutions; and to share strategy and planning documents 
with other participating States to demonstrate Albania's 
seriousness and willingness to do the hard work of preparing 
for a Chairmanship. 
 
Albanian DFM Shares Views on Adjustments to OSCE PiA 
 
¶2. (SBU) Discussing her views of the OSCE Presence in Albania 
(PiA), DFM Harxhi told CDA Fuller that the PiA has done 
excellent work in areas such as elections and continues to 
fill a needed role in improving the justice system, but said 
there was room for reductions in some areas of activity, such 
as civil administration and border management, where there is 
duplication with other entities.  Harxhi said a reduction in 
the number of Project Offices was probably justified as well, 
specifically naming the Offices in Vlora and Skodra as 
possibilities, as they are now only about an hour away from 
Tirana (previous discussions with the Albanian delegation 
have suggested a focus on closing Kukes, but Harxhi did not 
mention this Office).  CDA Fuller asked Harxhi to stay in 
close contact with Embassy Tirana regarding GoA intentions 
for the PiA and noted the United States was open to 
considering strategic adjustments where portions of the 
mandate had been fulfilled, but cautioned that any reductions 
had to be justified by progress.  Harxhi said she had 
recently asked Head of Presence Robert Bosch to play a more 
active role in resolving Albania's political deadlock, but he 
had told her he feels "helpless."  Harxhi attributed this 
partly to reluctance on his part to become more involved, 
since he is planning to return this summer to a position in 
the Dutch MFA. 
 
Chairmanship Offers Possible Compromise on Human Dimension 
Agenda 
 
¶3. (C) In response to concerns expressed by the United 
States, the EU, Canada, and Norway, the Kazakhstani 
Chairmanship called an informal meeting January 29 to discuss 
possible compromises on the human dimension (HD) agenda.  The 
Chairmanship's representative initially appealed for the 
original agenda to be accepted by all delegations, but 
 
USOSCE 00000036  002 OF 004 
 
 
delegations remained steadfast in reiterating the 
recommendations provided at the January 22 HD Committee 
meeting.  After much discussion and solid arguments, the 
Kazakhstani representative offered a possible compromise: 
replace the proposed Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting on 
"Combating Trafficking in Human Beings" with a meeting on 
"Freedom of the Media;" make the "Trafficking" topic the 
focus of one of the Special Days at the annual Human 
Dimension Implementation Meeting, instead of "Media 
Self-Regulation;" and replace the Special Day topic of 
"Strengthening the Independence of the Judicial System" with 
"Freedom of Movement."  Although none of the delegations 
could respond definitively, the Kazakhstanis noted they would 
work with Russia, Belarus, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan on 
the proposed compromise prior to the next HD Committee 
meeting, which has been postponed until February 4.  This 
experience demonstrates how a unified approach by like-minded 
delegations can succeed at moving the Kazakhstanis from their 
default position, which appears unsympathetic to our full 
range of HD priorities. 
 
EEF on Transport Security and Borders Kicks Off in Vienna 
 
¶4. (U) Segment I of the Economic and Environmental Forum 
(EEF) kicked off in Vienna February 1 with addresses by the 
Kazakhstani PermRep, the Secretary General, and the 
Coordinator of Economic and Environmental Activities. 
Opening remarks highlighted the importance of good governance 
in border management for trade and economic growth and the 
potential of Central Asia as a transit route.  Presentations 
by the UNECE, the International Transport Forum, and the 
International Road Transport Union made clear that there is 
an abundance of relevant instruments which would improve the 
performance of the transport sector and customs and border 
management if there were wider accession and more complete 
implementation.  U.S. welcoming remarks encouraged a 
strategic and cross-dimensional approach to the issues under 
discussion, highlighted the Kazakhstani Chairmanship and the 
Forum as an opportunity to promote good governance and 
management at border crossings in Central Asia, and stressed 
the topic's relevance to the OSCE's involvement with 
Afghanistan. 
 
Kazakhstan Outlines Efforts on Georgia Conflict 
 
¶5. (SBU) In the weekly meeting with the Chairmanship February 
2, Kazakhstani PermRep Abdrakhmanov commented that both 
Moscow and Tbilisi seemed "ready to talk" about next steps in 
Georgia but lacked trust, which the Chairmanship intended to 
help build.  Abdrakhmanov felt Kazakhstan's special 
representative for protracted conflicts, Bolat Nurgaliyev, as 
well as other OSCE personnel, were gaining acceptance in the 
region but noted the OSCE as a whole still was viewed with 
distrust.  He noted both sides were accusing the other of 
preparing for war, which made it difficult to solve practical 
problems, such as the continued lack of water for Georgia and 
natural gas for the South Ossetia region.  In terms of 
implementing the proposed OSCE support team, Abdrakhmanov 
said the situation was largely unchanged from last year, with 
South Ossetian representatives still insisting on 
Nurgaliyev's personal presence, which would not always be 
possible.  Nurgaliyev's near-term goals would be to assist in 
cooling rhetoric on both sides and to listen to all proposals. 
 
Conflict Prevention, Energy Security Key EU Priorities 
 
 
USOSCE 00000036  003 OF 004 
 
 
¶6. (SBU) During the weekly EU coordination meeting February 
3, Head of EU Delegation Ambassador Lundin and Spanish 
Ambassador Betanzos Roig (representing the EU Presidency) 
asked for adequate time to examine the U.S. proposal for a 
conflict prevention and resolution mechanism and requested 
more details on content and procedures as envisioned by the 
USG.  They appreciated U.S. leadership in this area and 
stressed that conflict prevention would be a key EU priority 
over the next year.  Lundin suggested any conflict prevention 
role for the OSCE would need to be focused and coordinated 
and would need clear channels of communication to relevant UN 
agencies.  He noted there was a serious debate in Brussels 
regarding the division of labor among various institutions, 
especially in light of EU experience in Afghanistan, where 
numerous EU institutions have been active but not always 
coordinated.  Lundin expressed confidence there would be 
strong attention from Brussels to getting the balance right 
and noted the goal should be to cover more types of threats 
with the same instruments.  (The EU slogan: "Multidimensional 
problems, multipurpose solutions.")  Another priority for the 
EU will be energy security.  Lundin and Betanzos Roig noted 
there were factions within the EU that want to increase 
political attention to energy security, while others seek to 
focus on technical issues with a lower political profile. 
The EU also is debating whether one mechanism or a set of 
complementary mechanisms is most desirable. 
 
Russia Says Lack of Progress in Geneva "Disheartens" 
Abkhazia, South Ossetia 
 
¶7. (SBU) Declaring the January 28 round of the Geneva 
discussions "fairly complicated," Russia claimed at the 
February 4 Permanent Council meeting that the lack of 
specific results in Geneva had "disheartened" the Abkhaz and 
South Ossetian participants, adding that the "clearly 
pro-Georgian" set of proposed interim security measures had 
prompted the Abkhaz and South Ossetians to question the value 
of participating in future rounds.  Russia reiterated its 
position that any new international presence must be agreed 
with the "independent republics" and again urged 
participating States to recognize the "new realities" in the 
region.  Russia further suggested that Abkhaz and South 
Ossetian authorities be invited to participate in the OSCE's 
Corfu Process discussions on European security.  The EU, the 
United States, and Georgia offered starkly different 
interpretations of the latest round of the Geneva 
discussions, highlighting the success of the IPRM for the 
Abkhazia region and calling for the renewal of the 
mechanism's South Ossetian counterpart. 
 
Head of OSCE Mission in Kosovo Reports to PC 
 
¶8. (U) In his January 4 report to the Permanent Council, OMIK 
Head of Mission Werner Almhofer described the OSCE's 
activities in Kosovo and gave an overview of major political 
and security developments.  Among other issues, he noted 
relatively high election turnout overall in the November 2009 
municipal elections, including among Serbs south of the Ibar. 
 In her response, the Serbian PermRep echoed much of 
President Tadic's January 22 address to the UNSC, criticized 
OMIK's report for presenting a misleading picture by not 
including information that only 6,022 of more than 100,000 
ethnic Serbs participated in the elections, and pointed to 
Kosovo as the "only territory in the Western Balkans that is 
labeled not free" in the 2009 Freedom House report.  Calling 
it an issue that could be a litmus test for honesty of 
 
USOSCE 00000036  004 OF 004 
 
 
purpose, she repeated Tadic's call for an alternative 
framework for decentralization through a status-neutral 
organization such as the OSCE, a remark that left many 
delegations and OMIK's HoM himself wondering privately if 
Belgrade was planning to put a concrete proposal on the 
table.  The Serbian PermRep also repeated earlier calls for 
an "Outreach Unit" to do more work on the protection and 
promotion of the rights of non-Albanian communities.  Russia 
went on the offensive against the Northern Strategy, saying 
it could lead to inter-ethnic conflict, and said Serb turnout 
in the elections represented not recognition of Kosovo 
authorities, but rather distress at increasing isolation. 
U.S. remarks noted the elections as a sign of progress, 
called for a constructive approach in the north, cautioned 
against engagement with parallel institutions, and urged OMIK 
to prioritize capacity-building activities. 
FULLER