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RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHPS #0265/01 0831005
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 241005Z MAR 06
FM USOFFICE PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5942
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0622
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHFMIUU/AFSOUTH NAPLES IT
RHMFIUU/CDR TF FALCON
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEPGEA/CDR650THMIGP SHAPE BE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUFOANA/USNIC PRISTINA SR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PRISTINA 000265 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE 
NSC FOR BRAUN 
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KCRM PGOV PINR KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: PROGRESS NEEDED ON MISSING PERSONS CASES 
 
REF: A. 05 BELGRADE 1940 
     ¶B. 05 PRISTINA 1036 
     ¶C. 05 PRISTINA 958 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  The Pristina and Belgrade delegations at 
the March 9 meeting of the working group on missing persons 
agreed that progress on the identification and return of 
remains from the 1999 conflict is too slow.  Kosovo's 
delegation demanded the immediate return of the 180 remaining 
bodies exhumed from mass graves in Serbia as well as quicker 
identification of the 800 sets of remains held in the 
UNMIK-run Kosovo morgue in Rahovec.  The Serbian delegation 
said that not all the bodies in Serbia had been identified, 
but they would try to complete the transfer by mid-July. 
International forensics organizations working on the 
estimated 2,400 active cases of missing persons recognize the 
need to speed up resolution of those cases that are 
resolvable and to formally close cases that are not.  The 
delegations also agreed that a more coordinated and 
comprehensive approach to the search for additional graves is 
needed.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On March 9 PolOff and PolFSN attended the fifth 
working group session on missing persons, chaired by the 
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).  This 
ongoing direct dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade began 
on March 9, 2004 in Pristina and the last meeting took place 
in Belgrade in October 2005 (Ref A).  Progress on finding and 
repatriating bodies has been slow, and on January 12 the ICRC 
had expressed doubt about whether it was worthwhile to 
continue chairing the working group, given a lack of 
political will on both sides (Ref B). 
 
¶3.  (SBU) The Pristina delegation was led by Kosovo assembly 
member Ragip Zekolli, and included Naser Rugova (advisor the 
Prime Minister), UNMIK Office of Missing Persons and 
Forensics (OMPF) forensics doctor Arsim Grxhaliu and the new 
director of UNMIK's department of justice (DOJ) Al Moskowitz. 
 The Belgrade delegation was led by Serbian member of 
parliament Veljko Odalovic, and included Serbian missing 
persons commission member Gvozen Gagic and Belgrade forensic 
specialist Slavisa Dobricanin. 
 
¶4.  (SBU)  At the outset of the meeting, representatives of 
Kosovo and Serbian family associations urged faster action in 
the resolution of outstanding cases.  The Pristina delegation 
passed along a special request from Kosovo Albanian family 
members from the village of Krusha e Vogel, the site of a 
war-time massacre in which 112 men and boys were apparently 
targeted by Serb forces (Ref C).  Those families asked that 
Serbia return identified sets of remains of persons from the 
village in time for a memorial service scheduled for March 
26, the anniversary of the massacre.  The Belgrade side 
responded that the transfer could not be completed that 
quickly, since Serbian law mandates the involvement of 
prosecutors and a judge before the bodies can be transferred. 
 The Belgrade delegation agreed to make its best efforts to 
implement all of the transfers by the end of July, regardless 
of whether or not the bodies had been identified. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Pristina and Belgrade delegations presented 
progress reports on resolving individual cases, locating 
additional graves, and implementing forensics and legal 
measures to assist families of the missing.  Both delegations 
praised the work of the OMPF, and criticized the work of the 
Sarajevo-based International Commission on Missing Persons 
(ICMP).  In Kosovo, ICMP collects blood samples from family 
members and tries to match DNA from these blood samples with 
DNA from bone samples taken from exhumed bodies. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Working group chairman Francois Stamm of the ICRC 
in Geneva announced that since the last meeting of the 
working group in October 2005, 206 bodies had been identified 
and repatriated to families.  He said that an additional 47 
 
PRISTINA 00000265  002 OF 003 
 
 
cases were added to the provisional list, according to which 
2,398 people are unaccounted for as of March 1, compared to 
2,557 in October 2005 and over 3,000 at the start of 2005. 
Stamm urged both sides to renew efforts this spring when 
warmer temperatures will allow further exhumations.  He said 
that, "without tangible results, I fear the working group 
will lose its legitimacy in the eyes of the families of those 
missing."  The next meeting of the working group is scheduled 
for May 31 in Belgrade. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Moskowitz told E/P Chief, PolOff and RLA on March 
20 that he considers finding new grave sites to be a top 
priority, and that he will engage with the police and OMPF to 
determine strategies for moving forward.  He said that 
possibilities include greater use of ICMP expertise in 
locating grave sites as well as the use of cadaver dogs to 
investigate possible sites. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Kathryne Bomberger of the ICMP headquarters in 
Sarajevo told PolOff by telephone that ICMP has finished 
profiling 96% of the bone samples that have been given to 
them by UNMIK/OMPF.  She said that ICMP has determined that 
there are approximately 1,500 persons not accounted for (not 
including the 800 bodies in Rahovec and the 180 in Serbia). 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Bomberger said ICMP has proposed an amendment to 
its memorandum of understanding (MOU) with UNMIK, which would 
allow ICMP to get directly involved in locating grave sites 
and in building local capacity to take over from OMPF.  The 
current MOU limits the ICMP,s role to blood sample 
collection and DNA analysis.  She said that the amended MOU 
has been submitted to SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen, who has 
referred the issue to the ICRC, where it remains pending. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) Currently OMPF is the sole organization charged 
with discovering grave sites and exhuming bodies in Kosovo. 
OMPF conducted 70 field operations (exhumations and 
assessments) in 2005 yielding 118 sets of human remains.  The 
number of annual field operations and recoveries has 
decreased since 2002 due to difficulty in locating grave 
sites. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) OMPF director Dr. Jose Pablo Baraybar told PolOff 
and PolFSN on March 21 (via conference call from South 
America, where he is on sick leave) that OMPF does not 
require additional assistance from ICMP, and sees no need to 
modify the MOU.  He said that ICMP's technology-based methods 
for discovering new grave sites are not applicable in Kosovo, 
where graves are small and widely dispersed.  He said that 
OMPF is already actively involved in local capacity-building 
and training, especially now that UNMIK is down-sizing in 
Kosovo and cutting funding for international staff.  He said 
that the best way to achieve progress is for the Contact 
Group to apply political pressure on Pristina and Belgrade 
officials to release information regarding the location of 
grave sites.  Acting OMPF director Krassimer Nikolov said 
that it would also help if they could access information and 
photos collected by international KFOR contingents during 
KFOR's first six months in Kosovo.  (NOTE.  After Baraybar 
hung up, Nikolov (who is leaving OMPF in two weeks) said that 
OMPF could use assistance, including from ICMP, in finding 
grave sites.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶12.  (SBU) COMMENT.  Assuming the 980 sets of remains held in 
Belgrade and Rahovec are all identified, there would still be 
some 1420 missing persons from the Kosovo conflict.  None of 
the parties involved in this issue - including ICMP, OMPF, 
UNMIK, governments and the international community - have 
come up with a coherent plan to comprehensively follow up on 
leads and to survey the Kosovo/Serbia land mass.  All agree 
that better coordination and less political posturing would 
improve prospects for discovering more graves, but even 
exemplary coordination would provide no certainty that all 
these cases would be resolved.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶13.  (U)  Post clears this message in its entirety for 
 
PRISTINA 00000265  003 OF 003 
 
 
release to Special Envoy Ahtisaari. 
GOLDBERG