This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 VIENNA 000893 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SCE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM SR YI AU UNMIK
SUBJECT: KOSOVO STATUS: SERBS AND KOSOVARS DRAW REDLINES ON 
DECENTRALIZATION, STATUS ISSUESA 
 
REF: A. VIENNA 870 
 
     ¶B. HOVENIER E-MAIL TO EUR/SCE ON 3/23/06 - 1 
     ¶C. HOVENIER E-MAIL TO EUR/SCE ON 3/23/06 - 2 
 
THIS CABLE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED.  PLEASE HANDLE 
ACCORDINGLY. 
 
¶1. (U) The following is information gathered by the US 
liaison officer to the UN Office of the Special Envoy for 
Kosovo negotiations (UNOSEK) in Vienna. 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In a March 17 meeting, top Serbian negotiators 
acknowledged to UN Special Envoy Martti Ahtisaari that 
Kosovo's "separation from Serbia" is a possible outcome of 
negotiations, but made clear Belgrade would not be party to 
this and refused to discuss how to manage the process to 
ensure Belgrade's buy-in on non-status issues. They also 
urged Ahtisaari to launch direct talks on status by the 
summer. Kosovo Prime Minister Ceku pledged dramatic progress 
soon on standards implementation, but warned Ahtisaari that 
Pristina could not accept any Belgrade authority in 
Serb-majority areas, a separate Serb entity or "third-layer 
of government", or anything less than a Kosovo army. Aside 
from a pair of already-planned face-to-face talks on 
decentralization, municipal delimitation, and Mitrovica in 
early and mid-April, UNOSEK anticipates expert-level talks on 
minority rights and protections and on religious sites and 
cultural heritage issues in April.  End Summary. 
 
AHTISAARI MEETING WITH LEADING SERBIAN NEGOTIATORS 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Following the second round of talks on 
decentralization in Vienna on March 17 (ref A), UN Special 
Envoy for Kosovo final status talks Martti Ahtisaari and his 
deputy Albert Rohan held a dinner with Serbian delegation 
heads Slobodan Samardzic and Leon Kojen. Samardzic and Kojen 
reluctantly acknowledged that Kosovo's "separation from 
Serbia" is a possible outcome of the status process, but made 
clear that their bosses, Serbian Prime Minister Kostunica and 
Serbian President Tadic, would not be party to such an 
outcome under any circumstances. They declined to engage in 
any discussions about how to manage the process to ensure 
Belgrade's buy-in to key issues even if Serbian leaders 
refused to agree to Kosovo's independence. They stressed that 
Belgrade expected Ahtisaari to lead "formal talks on Kosovo's 
status" between the parties in the near future, implying a 
desire to launch this process by the summer. (Note: Ahtisaari 
later expressed private disappointment that Belgrade's 
display of greater realism about the outcome of the final 
status process following the delivery of firm private 
messages by Contact Group countries has had little 
operational effect thus far. End note.) Samardzic and Kojen 
also expressed concern about the recent "militarization" of 
Kosovo's leadership, a reference to the election of new 
Kosovo Prime Minister Ceku and former Prime Minister 
Haradinaj's formal reentry into Kosovar politics. 
 
AHTISAARI MEETING WITH KOSOVO PM CEKU 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Ceku stopped in Vienna enroute to Brussels for a 
March 20 dinner with Ahtisaari. Ahtisaari emphasized to Ceku 
that UNMIK will soon prepare another of its periodic reports 
on standards implementation, and Kosovo cannot afford a 
report that reflects anything less than dramatic progress on 
standards. Ceku made clear he is committed to ensuring such 
progress and complete cooperation between Pristina and 
UNOSEK. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Ceku laid out three main Kosovar redlines on 
decentralization: (1) no authority from Belgrade in 
Serb-majority areas; (2) no separate Serb entity in Kosovo; 
and (3) no third-layer of government. Ceku, former commander 
of the Kosovo Protection Corps, also expressed a 
strongly-held view that a post-status Kosovo must have an 
army. Citing proposals to limit Kosovo's security force to 
some type of gendarmerie, Ceku said that the Kosovo Albanian 
public and Serbia would view such a force as "little more 
than a police force," and argued that such a force could not 
guarantee Kosovo's security. He also stressed that an 
independent Kosovo would want to participate in global peace 
support operations, which necessitated an army. 
 
OTHER AHTISAARI MEETINGS 
------------------------ 
 
¶6. (SBU) In a March 18 meeting in Vienna, Ukrainian Foreign 
Minister Tarasyuk told Ahtisaari that Kiev is very concerned 
that Kosovo could set a precedent that supports separatist 
tendencies in Nagorno-Karabahk, Transdnistria, South Ossetia, 
or Abkhazia. Ahtisaari responded that his mandate is limited 
to Kosovo and that Kosovo should be seen as a unique case. 
Ahtisaari is scheduled to be part of the official Finnish 
delegation to the funeral of former Estonian President 
Lennart Meri on March 26 and then address a special session 
of the OSCE Permanent Council in Vienna on March 28. 
 
UPDATE ON VARIOUS NEGOTIATING TRACKS 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶7. (SBU) As noted ref A, UNOSEK will submit to the Serbian 
and Kosovar negotiating teams during the week of March 27 a 
paper of decentralization principles highlighting areas of 
agreement and UNOSEK's proposed next steps in addressing key 
areas of disagreement. This paper and the parties' responses 
will pave the way for the third round of face-to-face talks 
in Vienna on April 3 and a mid-April meeting to discuss 
municipal delimitation and Mitrovica. Deputy Special Envoy 
Rohan will travel to Pristina March 28-30 for preparatory 
discussions with the Kosovars. Meanwhile, the Greek NGO 
ELIAMEP has provided UNOSEK a revised concept paper of the 
possible implementation in Kosovo of the Mount Athos model 
(ref B), but Pristina has yet to provide an updated position 
paper on the religious sites/cultural heritage issue promised 
by March 17. UNOSEK staffers visited Pristina and Belgrade 
the week of 20 March to consult on next steps, with an eye to 
face-to-face talks by the end of April. 
 
¶8. (SBU) UNOSEK )- in consultation with the OSCE High 
Commissioner on National Minorities, the Council of Europe, 
and the USG )- has sent Pristina guidance on areas where it 
seeks further elaboration of Pristina's response to its 
questionnaire on minority rights and protection issues (ref 
C). Kosovar authorities have organized a retreat on minority 
issues for March 25-26 with the participation of all of 
Kosovo's minority communities, including Kosovo Serbs, and 
members of Kosovo's Political Group will participate in a 
seminar in Oxford to help them prepare detailed position 
papers on these issues. UNOSEK is working on a proposed 
agenda that both sides agree can be discussed in expert-level 
talks in April. Meanwhile, the U.S. liaison officer to UNOSEK 
and team leader on the minority rights and protections met 
with UNHCR officials in Geneva on March 20, and UNHCR has 
pledged to provide UNOSEK with a list of key returns issues 
that will likely form the basis for discussions between the 
parties on returns-related principles. 
McCaw