VZCZCXRO0809
RR RUEHAG RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ
RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHPS #0339 1111446
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 211446Z APR 06
FM USOFFICE PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6045
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 0913
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHMFIUU/USNMR SHAPE BE//INTAF//
RUFNPKD/USDOCO SOUTH NAPLES IT//INTAF//
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS PRISTINA 000339 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/ACE, DRL, PRM, IO, NSC FOR BBRAUN, 
USUN, BUDAPEST FOR POSNER-MULLEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF EAID SENV PHUM UNMIK KDEM YI
SUBJECT: KOSOVO ROMA MOVE TO LEAD-SAFE RELOCATION FACILITY, 
FUNDING NEEDED FOR TREATMENT 
 
REF: A. PRISTINA 256 
 
     ¶B. 05 PRISTINA 1172 
 
Sensitive but unclassified, please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1.  (SBU) SUMMARY.  Over 290 Roma from two lead-contaminated 
refugee camps in north Mitrovica have moved to the Osterode 
temporary relocation facility.  All involved agree that a 
convalescence center to treat Roma with lead poisoning will 
be built there.  The World Health Organization (WHO) has 
decided to use international medical personnel to treat 
lead-contamination patients rather than Kosovo Serb doctors 
from the Belgrade-run hospital in north Mitrovica.  USG 
money, due to arrive within days, with be dedicated to 
medical care.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) In March 2006 UNMIK brokered an agreement with 
political and health structures run by hardline Kosovo Serbs 
in northern Kosovo to treat lead-contaminated Roma in the 
north Mitrovica hospital.  As of April 20, approximately 290 
Roma from Kablar and Cesmin Lug camps have moved; Roma in the 
third camp, Zitkovac, are eager to move as well.  UNMIK 
quietly dismantled Kablar camp on April 2. 
 
INTERNATIONALS TO ADMINISTER TREATMENT 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (SBU) WHO's Serbia Director Dorit Nitzan told poloff 
while in Kosovo April 4 that WHO doubted that the north 
Mitrovica hospital would prove a cooperative partner and so 
had decided to retain an international doctor and staff and 
to administer all treatment at Osterode.  UNMIK's Neville 
Fouche said April 3 that his construction team can build a 
convalescence facility at Osterode in as little as two weeks 
to monitor children for 14 days after their five days of 
inpatient treatment as soon as USG funds become available 
(ref A).  He later added that donor funding given to UNMIK 
for the relocation to Osterode is nearly depleted because of 
the running costs associated with having an open, uninhabited 
facility for nearly two months in January and February. 
Funding is also needed, he said, to implement the 
modifications to the Osterode facility which were recommended 
by the CDC and the US Army report (ref B), such as paving 
over dirt. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) WHO's local doctor Skender Syla told poloff April 4 
that priority will be given to treating children under 14, 
the majority of those tested and found to have high blood 
lead levels (BLL).  Another 30 adults have tested in the 
"dangerous" BLL range.  According to Syla, children from 
Zitkovac refugee camp have the highest BLL because this camp 
is where Roma did most of the lead smelting from car 
batteries which contaminated the dirt floors on which the 
children played.  WHO has completed preliminary BLL testing 
on the 400 Roma under 14; 120 of the Roma inhabitants of the 
camps could either not be located or refused testing.  Of 
those tested, 85 were found to have BLL above the dangerous 
limit of 45 micrograms/deciliter and according to WHO will be 
the first treated. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) COMMENT.  Although this solution circumvents the 
politicization and intransigence of northern Serb political 
structures, it is more expensive.  The EUR/ACE SEED funding 
earmarked for the Roma health emergency will address the 
acute medical lead contamination emergency in the three camps 
in a convalescence center at an already-constructed Osterode 
camp by providing for movable equipment for monitoring and 
lab testing which can eventually be used by Kosovo's health 
care system.  END COMMENT. 
GURIAN