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DE RUEHPS #0333/01 1091523
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 191523Z APR 06
FM USOFFICE PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6027
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0647
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 000333 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR DRL, INL, EUR/SCE 
NSC FOR BRAUN 
USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI 
DEPT FOR H - PLEASE PASS TO OFFICE OF SENATOR VOINOVICH 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL KCRM PGOV PINR KDEM UNMIK YI
SUBJECT: VISIT OF SENATOR VOINOVICH TO KOSOVO 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED, PROTECT ACCORDINGLY 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  In meetings with Prime Minister Agim Ceku 
and President Fatmir Sejdiu during his March 24 visit to 
Kosovo, Senator George Voinovich urged the new leaders to 
reach out to Kosovo Serbs and to show them and leaders in 
Belgrade that Kosovo's government is serious about creating a 
Kosovo in which Serbs and other ethnic minorities can live. 
In the afternoon he visited US Camp Bondsteel, where he spoke 
to soldiers who do community liaison work in Kosovo 
communities.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (U) Ohio Senator George Voinovich visited Kosovo on 
Friday, March 24.  He discussed Kosovo status negotiations, 
decentralization and the security situation in Kosovo with 
Prime Minister Agim Ceku, President Fatmir Sejdiu, the Kosovo 
Unity team (Ceku, Sejdiu, Assembly President Kole Berisha, 
opposition leaders Veton Surroi and Hashim Thaci, and 
coordinator Blerim Shala), Kosovo Serb leaders Oliver 
Ivanovic, Goran Bogdanovic and Randjel Nojkic, as well as 
Brigadier General Darren Owens and U.S. soldiers serving at 
Camp Bondsteel.  The Senator was accompanied by USOP Chief of 
Mission Goldberg, legislative aide Jeannie Siskovic and 
military escort LT Josh Wellner. 
 
Voinovich Tells Leaders to Convince Serbs of Their Sincerity 
--------------------------------------------- --------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) In his meeting with Prime Minister Agim Ceku, 
Voinovich warned that there are many in Serbia who doubt 
Kosovo Albanians are serious about creating the kind of 
Kosovo in which ethnic Serbs can stay and integrate.  He told 
Ceku now is the time to create observable evidence that 
things on the ground have changed.  Ceku stated 
optimistically that he expects more returns in 2006 than in 
previous years.  Ceku told Voinovich that Kosovo's 
Provisional Institutions of Self Government (PISG) views 
monasteries and patriarchal sites not as monuments, but 
rather as religious communities, and said Kosovo was proud to 
have such valuable cultural heritage.  Ceku said when KFOR 
completes its restructuring from a brigade to a task force it 
will be more flexible and able to react better.  He also 
commended U.S. forces in Kosovo for their work in the local 
community, which he referred to as a model that other 
constituent forces, especially in northern Kosovo, should 
emulate. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Ceku asked Voinovich to talk to the leadership in 
Belgrade and convince them to let Kosovo's Serbs integrate 
into Kosovo instead of keeping them as "hostages".  He 
promised that if Belgrade allows them to participate in 
Kosovo society and institutions, the Kosovo government would 
take care of them.  Voinovich implored Ceku to "treat 
Kosovo's Serbs the way they did not treat you" during the 
time that Slobodan Milosevic was in power.  At the end of 
their meeting, Voinovich said both Serbs and Kosovo Albanians 
need to realize how sincere Ceku is about protecting the Serb 
minority in Kosovo. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Senator Voinovich told President Fatmir Sejdiu of 
his dream that all of the former Yugoslavia join the EU and 
NATO, in order to rid the Balkans of the problems of the 
past.  Voinovich said the leaders with whom he had met the 
previous day in Belgrade do not believe the Kosovo government 
will follow through on its promises on minority rights.  He 
added for the success of status negotiations currently 
underway in Vienna, Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority must 
prove its sincerity.  He advised Sejdiu Kosovo's leadership 
must also change the hearts and minds of the local 
population.  Sejdiu responded that set-asides for minority 
representation in the Kosovo Assembly and minority hiring in 
government institutions gives Kosovo's Serbs and other ethnic 
minorities the opportunity for greater influence in Kosovo's 
government.  Sejdiu added the Kosovo government wants all 
those who left after the war to return and rejoin Kosovo 
 
PRISTINA 00000333  002 OF 003 
 
 
society. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Sejdiu told Voinovich Kosovo must be given the 
chance to show that it will care for its historic and 
cultural heritage after final status, and said that before 
Milosevic came to power, ethnic Albanians had protected the 
churches and patriarchal sites for hundreds of years.  Sejdiu 
admitted after the war there had been a breakdown of this 
protection, culminating in the riots of March 2004, but 
quickly added those events are not indicative of the views of 
the majority of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian population.  He said 
Kosovo's Albanian majority is disquieted by the March riots 
and said he is sure such events will not be repeated.  He 
told Voinovich there have been arrests and people have been 
convicted for their participation in the riots.  (NOTE.  SRSG 
Jessen-Petersen told Contact Group representatives on April 7 
there have been 420 prosecutions, 240 sentences, 100 
acquittals and 90 cases pending resulting from the March 2004 
riots.  END NOTE.) 
 
¶7. (SBU) Sejdiu promised to continue his outreach efforts in 
Serb communities.  He recounted the day before he met with 
Serbs in Rahovec/Orahovac who expressed their concerns about 
economic growth and jobs -- concerns common to everyone in 
Kosovo.  He said the ethnic Albanian majority must create 
conditions for minorities to have a normal life in Kosovo 
and, paraphrasing Senator Voinovich's own comments, said 
minority communities should not experience the same treatment 
as ethnic Albanians endured during Milosevic's rule.  Sejdiu 
added it is very clear Kosovo is committed to moving forward, 
noting that while the government put aside five million euros 
to rebuild Serbian Orthodox churches, it had to rely on 
international donors for assistance in rebuilding 130 mosques 
destroyed during the war.  He concluded that Kosovo Serbs 
must return to their homes and join Kosovo society and 
decision-making. 
 
"Treat the Serbs Better than They Treated You" 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶8. (SBU) Senator Voinovich told the members of the Kosovo 
Albanian final status negotiating team (aka the "Unity Team") 
that he had told Kosovo Albanian leaders in 2001 the best 
"guarantee" they could have of getting independence was to 
avoid "treating minorities the way they treated you when you 
were the minority," adding, "I wish you had listened more at 
the time; you would be further along."   The senator 
applauded the "eloquent statements" of new President Sejdiu 
and new Prime Minister Ceku but warned there is "a lot of 
skepticism on whether what you say you are going to do will 
be done." 
 
¶9. (SBU) Voinovich advised the Kosovo Albanian leaders to 
adopt a delicate manner in dealing with Kosovo Serbs so 
moderate leaders in Serbia would not be undermined by 
radicals who could take over Serbia by alleging things aren't 
getting better for Kosovo Serbs.  He asked them to work to 
convince Kosovo Serbs and Belgrade that there will be a 
change. 
 
¶10. (SBU) Blerim Shala replied frankly that, "our focus is 
the status of Kosovo, not the status of Serbia.  We are 
concerned with Kosovo Serbs, not Serbian Serbs."  The senator 
suggested understanding the role of the Serbian Orthodox 
Church would prove key to the final status process because 
the church influences Kosovo Serbs and Serbian Serbs alike. 
Noting the church had initially refused to cooperate with 
restoring churches damaged in the 2004 riots because the PISG 
was also involved, the senator said he had intervened with 
church leaders and they had responded.  The senator urged the 
Kosovo Albanian leaders to consider that the final status 
process might go a lot more smoothly "if the church feels 
comfortable and influences the Serb side of the table." 
 
 
 
PRISTINA 00000333  003 OF 003 
 
 
¶11. (SBU) Voinovich,s message over lunch with Kosovo Serbs 
was simple:  you can only benefit from participating in 
Kosovo,s governmental institutions.  The current uncertainty 
that plagues the Kosovo Serb political landscape came to the 
fore as Goran Bogdanovic, a member of Belgrade's negotiating 
team, and Randjel Nojkic expressed different views on the 
future of Kosovo Serbs.  Bogdanovic stressed Belgrade's 
desire that Kosovo not become independent; Nojkic countered 
by saying no one was asking what Kosovo Serbs wanted.  To 
Voinovich's call for an end to the Serbian List for Kosovo 
and Metohija,s (SLKM) boycott of Kosovo's government 
structures, SLKM head Oliver Ivanovic said they need to be 
supported (by Belgrade) to participate, or will be called 
&traitors." 
 
¶12. (SBU) Voinovich said it was more important than ever for 
Kosovo Serbs to specify what they would like the Kosovo 
government to do for them, but Ivanovic said the situation 
varies too greatly between those Serbs north of the Ibar 
River and those living in isolated ethnic Serb communities 
elsewhere in Kosovo.  On decentralization, the Kosovo Serbs 
pressed Voinovich to comment on Belgrade's funding of 
municipalities.  Voinovich said any funding should be 
welcomed to ameliorate economic conditions in Kosovo. 
Ivanovic replied by saying:  &What is decentralization going 
to get us?  Segregation or integration?  We're not sure what 
we want.8 
 
¶13. (U)  Post clears this message in its entirety for release 
to Special Envoy Ahtisaari. 
GOLDBERG