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P 150305Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY LJUBLJANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4571
INFO RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY KHARTOUM 0008

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 LJUBLJANA 000101 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR, AF (RANNEBERGER) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/13/2016 
TAGS: PREL PGOVSI DARFR EAID SI
SUBJECT: SLOVENIA: DARFUR, KOSOVO, A NEW MOVEMENT: WHAT IS 
PRESIDENT DRNOVSEK UP TO? 
 
REF: A. 05 LJUBLJANA 737 
 
     ¶B. 05 LJUBLJANA 756 
     ¶C. 05 LJUBLJANA 758 
     ¶D. LJUBLJANA 30 
     ¶E. LJUBLJANA 66 
 
Classified By: COM THOMAS B ROBERTSON FOR REASONS 1.4B AND D. 
 
¶1.  (C) Summary: In the past four months Slovenian 
President Drnovsek has dramatically increased his 
activities on both the international and domestic scenes. 
He has put forward an initiative on resolving the status of 
Kosovo, publicly called for the EU to drop cap subsidies in 
WTO trade negotiations, announced a plan to solve the 
Croatian-Slovenian maritime border dispute, and now, the 
current focus of his international activity, elaborated a 
10 point (then 16 point) plan to end the humanitarian 
and political crisis in Darfur.  He has proclaimed a new 
"movement of justice and development" to support his Darfur 
initiative and encourage other NGO and charity work.  Over 
the weekend he apologized to the Muslim world for a 
Slovenian magazine's publication of the offensive cartoon 
of the Prophet Mohammed.  On the domestic front he recently 
ignored recommendations by the Procuracy and Justice Ministry and 
pardoned a Slovenian businessman convicted of fraud, ended 
his frozen membership in the major opposition party, LDS, 
and this weekend he announced he would not sign the new 
Slovenian Law on Asylum (although he is required to sign by 
the constitution).  (Late note: on February 14, he went ahead 
and signed it.) 
 
¶2.  (C) It is no coincidence that this activity comes at a 
time when the president has first admitted to the public 
that his kidney cancer, once in remission, had spread to 
his lungs and his liver.  Denying that his health was bad, 
he has spoken of his allegedly successful treatment through 
"alternative medicine," including giving up all meat and 
alcohol. He thereby unleashed a national debate about 
whether his choice of alternative medicine and 
vegetarianism is a positive message for the Slovenian 
public (and its economy).  As if this were not enough, he 
has met for the first time a 20 year old daughter he 
supposedly didn't know he had.  He has wrought chaos in his 
own office by at first firing a couple of his advisors, 
then keeping one of them on and firing another senior 
assistant (the latter done by email).  The bottom line: 
most Slovenians are scratching their heads about their 
president's activity, many of them seeing it sympathetically as 
the attempt of a dying man to create a legacy.  The danger, as 
both his Kosovo and Darfur initiatives have shown, is that he 
could muck up sensitive negotiations while not having the 
energy or staff to see them through.  While our interests are 
in cautiously supporting the president's initiatives where they 
dovetail with ours (such as expanding the beneficent activities of 
NGO's and Slovenians in general), we must remember that 
Drnovsek does not speak for the government (although 
generally PM Jansa has expressed support for his Darfur 
activities).  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Drnovsek all over the map...and unpredictable 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) Since mid November I have had the opportunity to 
meet with the President several times where he has laid out 
his latest initiatives and ideas.  The first (Ref A), where 
he called together contact group ambassadors to promote an 
initiative for the final status for Kosovo, was typical in 
the seriousness of the substance of the proposal while the 
style of presentation and follow up raised serious 
questions about the president's purpose.  Laying out the 
proposal for Serb and Kosovar leaders to meet discreetly in 
Ljubljana to break the ice for upcoming negotiations, 
Drnovsek immediately violated the supposedly confidential 
nature of his approach by spilling it to the press, thereby 
fating his proposal to a quick demise and leading his Serb 
hosts to cancel his upcoming visit. At the same meeting he 
teased the French Ambassador about the EU's need to come forward 
to meet the American challenge on Doha round negotiations, a 
point he shortly thereafter made public. Drnovsek has made 
good use of his bully pulpit to make his views known 
(as he did helpfully when the government decided to send trainers 
to Iraq), but there is an element of unpredictability in his actions. 
Even his senior most advisor, former FM Ivo Vajgl, professed to me 
that he was unaware Drnovsek would go public with his 
Kosovo initiative. 
 
 
LJUBLJANA 00000101  002 OF 004 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
Prime Minister generally approves, but FM playing catch up 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶4.  (C) At each of these meetings, I have pointedly asked 
whether the government is on board with the President's 
initiatives.  In each case concerning foreign policy 
initiatives, whether concerning Kosovo, Croatia, or now 
Darfur, Drnovsek has replied that he has discussed it with 
Prime Minister Jansa and that Jansa supports him.  In fact, 
Jansa has on occasion spoken publicly of his general 
support for the President's initiatives, most recently 
Darfur.  That said, it is equally clear that Drnovsek has 
not made much of an effort to keep Foreign Minister Rupel 
apprised of his activities, and more than once Rupel has 
expressed to me his frustration at trying to manage the 
President's foreign policy agenda (complaining for example 
about the Kosovo initiative, noting that he and Serb FM 
Draskovic had had discussions about some of the same ideas, 
while keeping them confidential.)  Part of this is the 
result of the tension between Vajgl and Rupel, who do not 
get along and have each been known to undermine the other's 
efforts.  For my part, I will continue to make sure the 
Foreign Ministry is in the loop about what the President's 
office is asking of us.  During the DVC between Drnovsek 
and Ambassador Ranneberger ten days ago, we informed the 
MFA it was going forward and suggested to the President's 
office that Dep FM Cerar be invited, which he was. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
Going public with the return of his cancer..... 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
 
¶5.  (C) All of this activity has taken place at the same 
time that Drnovsek has released to the public information 
about his private life and health.  The most serious of 
these was public disclosure, first in a Croatian 
publication, that his kidney cancer, which he has suffered 
for years but had been in remission, had spread to his 
lungs and liver.  Still, despite this news, Drnovsek argued 
that he is healthy, and that he has maintained his health 
and energy thanks to his use of alternative medical 
therapies.  Part of this, as we have witnessed at lunches 
with him recently, has been his decision to give up all 
meat and alcohol.  He has also urged other cancer victims 
to give up meat and to consider alternative medicine. 
(Granted, Slovenians can be pretty ascetic:  MEP and Former 
PM Peterle (another cancer survivor) told me over a 
week ago he had already lost over 25 lbs during an over 
month-long fast (liquids only) which he is continuing.  MEP 
and Social Democrat President Pahor is moreover a 
triathlete with an incredibly rigorous training regime, and 
PM Jansa has not given up technical climbing of steep 
mountain walls despite his high office.)  In any case, in 
response to Drnovsek's announcement, both meat producers 
and their representatives and the medical establishment 
have raised serious concerns that the President has sent 
the wrong message to the Slovenian people.  On the medical 
front recently there was a public debate on television 
about the effectiveness of alternative medical options. 
While the President's condition was not the center of the 
discussion, it was obviously the cause for the discussion 
at this time. 
 
------------------------------------ 
.....and a daughter he didn't know. 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶6.  (C) During the same period, Drnovsek made public that 
he had recently met with a 20 year old daughter whom he had 
previously never met before.  Incredible on the face of it, 
his admission met with some surprise but not particular 
shock, as many Slovenians have children out of wedlock and 
common-law marriages are not that unusual.  While many 
found it hard to believe that Drnovsek did not know he had 
a daughter, the more relevant question was why he went 
public with it now. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
Facing death, and determined to leave a legacy? 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶7.  (C) Many Slovenians one talks to about Drnovsek's new 
activity admit to being baffled by it. "I just don't know 
what's going on in his head?" Finance Minister Bajuk 
(protect) said to us last week.  LSD President Jelko Kacin 
 
LJUBLJANA 00000101  003 OF 004 
 
 
(also protect), when we saw him a week earlier, was more 
saddened and perplexed than angry by Drnovsek's gratuitous 
decision to end his "frozen" membership in LSD and quit it 
altogether.  But he also thought that Drnovsek had "lost 
it," noting that in responding to his illness he had lost his 
sense of balance.  Most agree that this flurry of activity 
is the product of a dying man's determination to leave a 
legacy. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
A dissenting view:  Drnovsek out to set up presidential run 
--------------------------------------------- -------------- 
 
¶8.  (C) One embassy contact, Atlantic Council President 
Anton Bebler (protect), was dismissive of the president's 
efforts.  Drnovsek, he argued, had never cared during his 
prime ministerial years and before about any humanitarian 
activities whatsoever, refusing many who tried to 
interest him in them.  Moreover, Bebler claimed, he was a 
totally self-absorbed politician without friends whose 
successful political career was a product more of luck and 
the fact that most people voted against his opponents, not 
for him. Bebler's take was that Drnovsek's activity, and 
particularly the creation of his new movement, was a 
transparent effort to establish a new party which could 
support his re-election campaign for the presidency in 2007. 
Despite this, and his obvious antipathy for Drnovsek, Bebler 
did not believe Drnovsek would survive until those elections. 
 
------------------------------------ 
Staff shortages, little coordination 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶9.  (C) In fact, it is hard to imagine how Drnovsek could 
deliver on his many initiatives given the staff shortages 
he has, some of them self generated.  His firing last week, 
by email, of his long trusted Secretary General, Matjaz Nahtigal, 
was out of the blue.  In December we had learned that two other 
long time assistants would be leaving, Iztok Simoniti, the brother 
of the Minister of Culture, and Melita Gabric.  Simoniti, whose 
wife is the Slovenian Ambassador to Germany, has in fact departed 
and joined his wife in Berlin.  But apparently Drnovsek had 
second thoughts on Gabric who remains on the staff.  We 
understand that MFA Advisor Borut Grgic may be joining 
Drnovsek's staff, and Drnovsek has brought on a new woman 
to work with NGO's on his new movement's activities. But 
all of this activity underscores how weak in resources the 
president's office is. Including security and drivers, it 
is still smaller than EUR/NCE! 
 
¶10. (C) The challenge is made worse by the lack of 
coordination between the president's office and the Foreign 
Ministry, much a product of the animosity between senior 
advisor Vajgl and Foreign Minister Rupel.  In early January 
in Washington, Slovenian Ambassador to the U.S. Zbogar 
(protect) conveyed to me his concern that Vajgl was calling 
up Slovenian ambassadors and giving them direct 
instructions to support Drnovsek's initiatives with the 
host country, without reference to Rupel or the Foreign 
Ministry.  Zogar made clear that he found himself in a 
difficult position and appeared determined to make sure the 
MFA was in the loop, urging Vajgl to work these demarches 
through the ministry.  Last week MFA Deputy FM Cerar 
admitted to the Italian ambassador that he learned of much 
of Drnovsek's activity through the press ticker, and in a 
meeting with EU ambassadors FM Rupel last Friday with good 
humor made clear he was out of the loop, asking his staffer 
in front of the group to contact the interior ministry to 
see if security had been set up for the possible arrival of 
the Sudanese for negotiations.  Not to belabor the obvious, 
leaving the MFA out of the picture makes it more difficult 
for it to support the president's initiative at the EU, 
NATO, and at the UN. 
 
¶11. (C) On February 13, Drnovsek's proposal for settling the 
maritime border dispute with Croatia, based largely on his 2001 
agreement with then Prime Minister Ivica Racan, was loudly rejected 
by Croation Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and criticized by Rupel. 
The MFA said in a release that Rupel had learned of the proposal 
from the media and did not believe it was "the best solution." 
Sanader called the proposal "unacceptable." 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
Delays and obstacles....and the inevitable blame game 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶12. (C) The problems of Drnovsek's engagement on such 
 
LJUBLJANA 00000101  004 OF 004 
 
 
complicated issues came through this weekend as the 
president's office first announced on Saturday that 
delegations representing both the Sudanese governments and 
the rebel groups would be arriving soon for negotiations 
Monday and Tuesday (February 13 and 14).  Vajgl waxed 
eloquent that day on the prospects for the president's 
initiative: as cited by the Slovenian press agency (STA), 
"a meeting of the warring sides is coming up, a peace and 
donor conference are being organized, and the activity of 
the UN and African Union has accelerated."  Within hours 
that lofty pronouncement started to unravel as Drnovsek 
admitted to having "minor complications."  In a BBC 
interview on Saturday, first broadcast on Sunday, Drnovsek 
accused the British Ambassador to Slovenia of trying "to 
convince the rebels not to come to Slovenia," noted 
problems in trying to arrange UN transportation for the 
rebel leaders to Ljubljana ("the UN bureacrats did not 
cooperate"), and mentioned that the NY Times had written an 
editorial supporting Drnovsek's efforts (no mention that 
this was in fact a Kristof op-ed). finally, Sunday morning, 
STA reported (flash) that the talks had been postponed 
indefinitely.  On Monday, Drnovsek lambasted international 
diplomats for allegedly blocking talks in Slovenia and 
announced his suggestion that the venue for negotiations be 
moved to Germany next weekend.  The same day PM Jansa 
stepped back from his full support for Drnovsek's 
initiative by making clear he had blocked Intelligence 
Chief Podbregar's return to Khartoum as Drnovsek's special 
envoy since Drnovsek had not briefed him on the mission. 
Special Advisor Vajgl added he would be forced to conduct 
the negotiations with the Sudanese by telephone. 
 
--------------------------------------------- 
Comment:  Patience and caution the watchwords 
--------------------------------------------- 
 
¶13. (C) So here we are.  It is important again for 
Washington observers to remember that Drnovsek does not 
speak for the government.  That said, as the president of 
the country, he has a role to play in identifying the moral 
high ground and providing leadership to Slovenians as a 
surrogate "father of the country."  Given his extensive 
experience in Yugoslav and Slovenian politics, Drnovsek has 
long been a respected figure who regularly tops the public opinion 
popularity polls.  But Drnovsek's pumped up activity has 
the clear danger of undermining sensitive negotiations in which 
the international community has been engaged in for some time. 
More seriously for Slovenia, it threatens to expose Drnovsek as 
a somewhat pathetic Johnny-Come-Lately seeking to go out in 
a blaze of glory, but sadly lashing out when his plans 
don't go the way he wishes.  If that becomes his standard mode of 
operation, it would seem that all of this is not so much about 
Kosovo, about Croatia, or about Darfur.  It is all about Drnovsek. 
ROBERTSON