VZCZCXRO9078
OO RUEHAG RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHPS #0290/01 0901642
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 311642Z MAR 06
FM USOFFICE PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 5977
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0632
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 04 PRISTINA 000290 
 
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 SERB PUBLIC SERVANTS FORCED TO CHOOSE 
BETWEEN BELGRADE AND PRISTINA 
 
REF: A. 05 BELGRADE 1646 
     ¶B. 04 PRISTINA 1006 
     ¶C. 05 PRISTINA 01113 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  On March 21, Belgrade-based chief of the 
Kosovo Coordination Center (CCK) Sanda Raskovic-Ivic told 
public sector Kosovo Serbs that Serbia will no longer pay 
salaries to employees who also receive salaries from 
Pristina.  Many Kosovo Serbs believe that if they choose 
Pristina, they will lose their jobs, pensions and possibly be 
black-listed for future employment in Serbia.  Many have 
closed their Kosovo bank accounts in order to stop direct 
deposit payments from Pristina, while others have sent 
letters to their local municipalities requesting that Kosovo 
salary payments be discontinued.  Moderate Kosovo Serb 
politician Oliver Ivanovic criticized the move by the CCK, 
saying that it will only encourage Serbs to leave Kosovo. 
Prime Minister Ceku and SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen have both 
urged Kosovo Serbs to continue to accept their Kosovo 
salaries.  The CCK order is making an already difficult 
situation for Kosovo Serbs worse, and is creating confusion 
and resentment among the very population CCK purports to 
serve.  END SUMMARY. 
 
CCK TELLS SERB SERBS TO CHOOSE BETWEEN SERBIA AND PRISTINA 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) During a March 21 visit to the large Kosovo Serb 
enclave of Velika Hoca in Rahovec/Orahovac municipality, 
Kosovo Coordination Center (CCK) chief Sanda Raskovic-Ivic 
(Ref A) told Kosovo Serbs that health and education workers 
must choose between receiving salaries from Serbia or from 
Kosovo.  Many Kosovo Serbs (especially in those fields of 
employment) receive double salaries ) one from the Serbian 
government in Belgrade (up to 400 euro per month depending on 
qualifications) plus a lower one from the Kosovo Consolidated 
Budget (KCB) of Kosovo's Provisional Institutions of Self 
Government (PISG) (130 - 250 euro per month).  Kosovo 
Albanians only receive the lower KCB salary for the same work. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Serbian parallel institutions (including most 
healthcare facilities and schools in Serb majority areas and 
enclaves) are run and financed by Belgrade via the CCK. 
Although UNMIK and the PISG exercise little or no authority 
over these parallel institutions, the PISG nevertheless pays 
salaries to their employees.  (NOTE.  On March 10 UNMIK 
civilian police (CivPol) officers seized two million 
undeclared euros at the boundary between Kosovo and Serbia 
proper, sent by the Serbian Government to finance parallel 
institutions.  UNMIK returned the money several days later, 
via an intermediary, after Serbia agreed to respect UNMIK law 
and regulations on money transfers in the future.  END NOTE.) 
 
SERBS TAKE ACTION TO HALT SALARY PAYMENTS 
----------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Rahovec CCK coordinator Dejan Baljosevic told 
PolFSN on March 28 that in response to Raskovic-Ivic's 
ultimatum, many Kosovo Serbs have already taken action to 
prevent receipt of the next payment of their KCB salary, due 
to arrive in the coming days. (NOTE.  Salaries are paid at 
the end of the month for work done in the preceding month. 
END NOTE.) 
 
¶5.  (SBU) A Raiffeisen bank contact told EconFSN on March 30 
that out of about 550 accounts held by Kosovo Serb education 
workers in Gracanica, about 250 have been closed since 
Raskovic-Ivic's edict.  The contact said that dozens of 
Kosovo Serbs in Gjilan/Gnjilane and Lipjan/Lipljan have also 
closed their accounts, and closures are ongoing.  ProCredit 
 
PRISTINA 00000290  002 OF 004 
 
 
Bank in north Mitrovica said Kosovo Serbs there have closed 
50-60 accounts, while Raiffeisen said that it has not 
experienced closures in north Mitrovica and or in the three 
northern municipalities.  Raiffeisen in the north is issuing 
confirmations to bank account holders whose accounts cannot 
be closed due to outstanding loans. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Baljosevic said that the directors of all Kosovo 
Serb schools and healthcare facilities had received forms 
from the CCK on which individual employees must circle 
whether they wish to receive Serbian or Kosovo salaries. 
PolFSN obtained a copy of the form that was given to teachers 
at Primary School Vuk Karadzic in Rahovec/Orahovac, on which 
employees must also state which employer they wish to remain 
employed with: the Republic of Serbia, or "an institution out 
of the Republic of Serbia system."  The form clearly implies 
that if they choose Pristina, then they no longer work for 
Serbia.  Baljosevic said the forms must be filled out and 
returned to the school or hospital directors, who will then 
forward them to the municipal officials responsible for 
salary payments. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Livingston said that municipal signs on schools in 
upper Rahovec and Velika Hoca, two large Serb enclaves in 
Rahovec municipality, were taken down on March 28. 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Permanent secretary to the Kosovo ministry of 
education Fehmi Ismajli told PolFSN on March 28 that the 
ministry received a letter from Kosovo Serb teachers in 
Obilic municipality asking that the ministry stop paying them 
"UNMIK salaries." Ismajli said that the ministry wants Kosovo 
Serbs employed in the public sector to continue to work, but 
he added that the government cannot "compete" with the 
enormous pressure exerted by the CCK on Kosovo Serbs. 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Mitrovica regional CCK coordinator Momir Kasalovic 
told PolFSN that he and the other four regional CCK 
coordinators expect to meet with Raskovic-Ivic to discuss the 
difficult logistics of further implementation of the CCK 
order.  He said that he expects that Kosovo Serbs will be 
turning to local CCK officials for advice on how best to 
implement the request logistically.  Kasalovic said that 
ethnic Serb public employees should receive only one salary 
and must choose to receive it either from Kosovo or Serbia. 
 
SERBS FEAR LOSS OF BENEFITS OR BLACKLISTING 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶10.  (SBU) CCK's Baljosevic said that he warned Raskovic-Ivic 
that this plan will be difficult to implement because "Kosovo 
Serbs south of the Ibar River live among Albanians and depend 
on them," but Raskovic-Ivic was determined to force events. 
He said that many Kosovo Serbs fear that they might lose 
their right to Serbian pensions if they do not choose to 
receive Serbian salaries. 
 
¶11.  (SBU) A Kosovo Serb teacher from an enclave near 
Gracanica told PolOff that her school director made it clear 
that teachers will lose their jobs if they do not provide 
proof that they have closed their Kosovo bank account.  She 
said that one of her colleagues quickly borrowed money from 
friends to pay off a loan to the bank in order to be able to 
close her account on March 29.  The Serb teacher said that 
Kosovo Serbs also fear that if they choose Pristina salaries, 
they could be black-listed and unable to obtain employment in 
Serbia in the future. 
 
¶12.  (SBU) In an indication that the CCK edict may move 
beyond the health and education sectors, the Serb teacher 
added that two young Serb neighbors - one who works at the 
Pristina airport and one who works for the returns ministry - 
were told by the CCK that they will lose their social 
assistance payments from the Serbian government if they do 
not quit their jobs.  She said that despite the fact that 
their salaries are higher than the 65 euro a month assistance 
 
PRISTINA 00000290  003 OF 004 
 
 
payments (for Kosovo Serbs who worked at the Obilic mines 
before the war), they plan to quit their jobs because they 
also fear being black-listed. 
 
DESPITE EXEMPTION FOR THE NORTH, SERBS THERE COMPLYING 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
¶13.  (SBU) Baljosevic said the CCK order does not apply to 
the three northern Serb-majority municipalities (Leposavic, 
Zubin Potok and Zvecan) or north Mitrovica, because those 
areas have "legitimate" elected Serbs serving as municipal 
leaders who are recognized by both local Serbs and UNMIK. 
Therefore, it does not apply to the hospital in north 
Mitrovica run by hard-line EO-listed Serb National Council 
(SNC) Mitrovica chief Milan Ivanovic (Ref B). 
 
¶14.  (SBU) While not being forced by the CCK to choose, some 
Kosovo Serbs in the north are refusing their Kosovo salaries 
anyway.  Head of OSCE Mitrovica Region Alastair Livingston 
told PolOff that 285 school employees in Leposavic 
municipality in northern Kosovo have signed and submitted 
letters to UNMIK asking to be removed from Kosovo payrolls. 
 
BELGRADE ALSO PENALIZING SOME NON-SERB MINORITIES 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
¶15.  (SBU) Livingston said that an emissary from the Serbian 
ministry of education went to Dragas/Dragash municipality to 
encourage employees at Gorani and Bosniak schools operating 
under the Serbian parallel system to choose Serbian salaries. 
 Gorani community teacher and activist Abdi Alija told PolFSN 
on March 30 that 200 Gorani employees at such schools have 
chosen to continue to receive their Serbian salaries and 
reject their KCB salaries.  He said that the employees felt 
they had no choice, since the Serbian salaries are higher and 
also entail other benefits including pensions, children's 
allowances and health insurance. 
 
¶16.  (SBU) There are some 1500 Serbian-speaking Gorani living 
in the mountainous Dragas municipality in southern Kosovo. 
The Gorani community there is the only non-Serb community in 
Kosovo with its own CCK representative.  Gorani are seen as 
closely aligned to Serbs and Serbian-run parallel 
institutions, partially because they insist their children be 
allowed to study in Serbian language with a Belgrade-based 
curriculum.  Gorani traditionally send their children on to 
universities in Serbia, which do not accept students who 
studied under the UNMIK/Kosovo Albanian curriculum (Ref C). 
 
¶17.  (SBU) Dragas deputy mayor Sabidin Cufta told PolFSN on 
March 28 Bosniak and Gorani municipal leaders met with the 
local population and urged people not to choose the Serbian 
salaries, telling the employees that their leaders would 
distance themselves from any workers who choose Serbia.   He 
said that the local leaders now fear "Albanian vengeance" and 
don't want to be labeled "Serb collaborators." 
 
CCK MOTIVATED BY VIENNA TALKS 
----------------------------- 
 
¶18.  (SBU) Baljosevic said he expects more Kosovo Serbs to 
give up their salaries because "Sanda told them Albanians 
have been waving in Vienna a list of Serb employees paid by 
the KCB as a main argument to show that Serbs will not leave 
Kosovo and will accept Kosovo's independence.8 
 
SLKM AND UMIK URGE SERBS TO IGNORE THE ORDER 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶19.  (SBU) Immediately after the statement by Raskovic-Ivic, 
moderate SLKM politician Oliver Ivanovic spoke out against 
the move by the CCK, saying that cutting these financial ties 
to the PISG would further isolate Kosovo Serbs.  He said it 
will only encourage Kosovo Serbs to leave Kosovo, especially 
since many of them only stay here because they get double 
 
PRISTINA 00000290  004 OF 004 
 
 
salaries.  Ivanovic said Kosovo Serbs need to integrate into 
Kosovo, not cut themselves off further. 
 
¶20.  (SBU) On March 28 SRSG Soren Jessen-Petersen issued a 
press release, stating that Kosovo Serbs are "entitled to 
salaries from the KCB for the work they are doing."  He said 
financing is one of the issues being discussed in status 
negotiations, and urged all parties to "refrain from any 
unilateral measures."  Prime Minister Ceku also urged Kosovo 
Serbs to continue to receive their Kosovo salaries. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶21. (SBU) COMMENT.  The recent move to force Kosovo Serbs to 
choose between salary payments from Serbia or Kosovo shows 
just how out of touch the CCK is with the real situation on 
the ground for Kosovo Serbs.  Many of those Serbs rely on 
both salaries to feed their families in an already dire 
economic environment, and neither of the salaries alone (or 
even together) serves as a living wage for Kosovo Serbs who 
generally lack Diaspora funds available to many Kosovo 
Albanians.  However, many Kosovo Serbs are so confused and 
worried about their future in Kosovo that they are willing to 
take this drastic step, even when it goes against their 
immediate self interest, in order to keep their options open 
for a possible move to Serbia in the future.  The CCK 
initiative may also amount to a not-so-subtle attempt to 
consolidate control over Kosovo Serbs and Serb-inhabited 
areas.  END COMMENT. 
 
¶22.  (U)  Post clears this message in its entirety for 
release to Special Envoy Ahtisaari. 
GOLDBERG