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OO RUEHDBU RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR
DE RUEHVJ #1747/01 2151747
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O 031747Z AUG 06
FM AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 4085
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHSQ/AMEMBASSY SKOPJE IMMEDIATE 0199
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE IMMEDIATE 0093
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUFOAOA/USNIC SARAJEVO IMMEDIATE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SARAJEVO 001747 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR (DICARLO), D (SMITH), P (BAME), EUR/SCE (HOH, 
SAINZ, FOOKS), EUR/ACE (VISOCAN, LONGI), S/CT (BLACK), 
S/WCI (HODGKINSON), INR, THE HAGUE (JOHNSON), NSC FOR 
BRAUN, VIENNA FOR LEGATT (DIETDERICH), OSD FOR FLORY, USDOJ 
FOR CRIMINAL DIVISION - ICITAP (DELCORE) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/03/2016 
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL PTER KCRM KJUS BK
SUBJECT: BOSNIA: POLICE REFORM AND RS PM DODIK 
 
Classified By: DCM Judith Cefkin, reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (C)  SUMMARY:  The Police Reform Directorate (PRD) held 
its 16th meeting on July 26 and is close to an agreement on 
the basic model, but without Republika Srpska (RS) input, 
because the official RS representative is an observer-only. 
Prior to the meeting, the Ambassador discussed police reform 
with RS PM Dodik.  Dodik complained that EC Brussels and the 
EC Delegation in Sarajevo were sending contradictory signals 
on police reform.  On specific issues, Dodik said that he was 
willing to accept one state-level law on police, with the RS 
giving up legislative authority, but insisted that the RS 
Police be a single organizational unit within the national 
police.  The Ambassador encouraged Dodik to speak to other 
political leaders (Covic, Tihic) on these issues, warning 
that simply waiting was not a good strategy.  Still, it is 
unlikely that there will be much progress until after the 
October elections.  END SUMMARY. 
 
PRD ELECTS NEW CHAIR WHILE DODOK SPARS WITH SOLANA 
 
¶2. (C)  The July 26 meeting largely focused on technical 
issues, with detailed discussions centered on aspects of the 
two-tiered structure - state and local level policing.  The 
PRD also elected a new three-month Chairman, Sarajevo Canton 
Police Commissioner Himzo Selimovic (Bosniak).  This was to 
be the Serbs' turn at the helm, but the three Serbs in the 
PRD all declined the honor (Note: Only one of the three Serbs 
on the PRD officially represents the RS. End Note.) 
Selimovic is a professional and supporter of police reform. 
The PRD extended the timeframe for completing its work from 
September to November 30.  In the lead up to the meeting, RS 
PM Dodik continued to publicly attack the PRD's legitimacy, 
with backing from FM Ivanic.  EU High Rep Javier Solana hit 
back on July 20 with a strongly worded statement demanding 
that Dodik honor the October 2005 political agreement on 
police reform, which he signed.  (Ref: July 24 Sarajevo DAR) 
 
AMBASSADOR MEETS WITH RS PM DODIK 
 
¶3. (C)  On July 13, the Ambassador held a wide-ranging 
discussion with RS PM Dodik, which included the topic of 
police reform.  The Ambassador underlined that the U.S. 
wanted to see BiH in the EU and NATO, but that would be 
impossible without progress on police reform.  He noted that 
in September the EC will draft a report on BiH,s record on 
outstanding reform issues.  At this point, he did not think 
the EU had seen enough progress on police reform to justify 
signing a Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA). 
Dodik told the Ambassador that he wanted the PRD to work 
according to the October 2005 Political Agreement (brokered 
by the U.S).  That is, as a body which represented the 
signatories to the agreement (the RS, the Federation, and the 
BiH state-level government) and not just as an organ of the 
BiH Council of Ministers.  Dodik also complained that the PRD 
had rejected all of the recommendations that the RS member 
had made, so he didn't see the utility in having the RS 
representative again take an active role. (Note: The RS 
"recommendations" consisted of maintaining the status quo. 
End Note.) 
 
¶4. (C)  On specific issues, Dodik said that he was willing to 
cede legislative authority for the police from the entity to 
the state level.  However, Dodik insisted that the RS Police 
must remain a single organizational unit within the national 
police.  Dodik also said that it was impossible to eliminate 
entity interior ministries in the first stage of police 
reform, but that such a move might be possible later.  On 
police budgets, Dodik noted that he supported a single state 
police budget but wanted money dedicated to policing in the 
RS channeled through the entity's financial system. 
 
POLITICAL TALKS AS A WAY FORWARD FOR POLICE REFORM 
 
¶5. (C)  Dodik asserted that EC Brussels and the EC Delegation 
in Sarajevo were sending contradictory signals on police 
reform.  Dodik claimed that EU Enlargement Director for the 
Western Balkans Reinhard Priebe told him that the EU,s three 
principles for police reform allowed the widest possible 
framework for interpretation.  The EC,s Delegation in 
Sarajevo had been much less flexible, Dodik implied. 
 
SARAJEVO 00001747  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶6. (C)  When asked whether political talks on police reform 
might break the current log jam, and, if so, whether such 
talks were possible so close to an election, Dodik said yes. 
(Note:  On July 28, OHR PDHR Butler told the Steering Board 
Ambassadors that political talks were necessary, but that 
they could not take place before the elections.  End Note.) 
Dodik said he wanted a police law that all sides could 
support.  The Federation should accept the RS's willingness 
to give up its legislative power in policing and its 
readiness to accept a state budget for police, he said, but 
that the Federation also needed to accept the RS's desire for 
the RS police to be a single organizational unit within the 
BiH system. 
 
¶7. (C)  COMMENT:  BiH has 14 disjointed and duplicative 
police departments and organized crime continues to thrive; 
yet BiH spends twice the EU average on policing.  The U.S. 
wants to see BiH in the EU and NATO, but that will be 
impossible without progress on police reform.  The PRD, led 
by European Union Police Commissioner Coppola, continues to 
chug along and will undoubtedly produce a technically sound 
reform plan along the lines of the 2004 Martens Plan.  This 
plan, however, will not be politically viable without Bosnian 
Serb buy-in.  With general elections approaching in October, 
it will be hard for Dodik (or any RS politician) to show 
flexibility on this hot-button issue in the near term.  OHR 
and the EC continue to send mixed messages.  All parties will 
face a crisis point toward the end of the year when the EC 
must make a decision on signing a SAA with Bosnia.  That is 
when the best chance for a deal will occur.  Dodik most 
likely will have secured his reelection and will be in a 
position to compromise, knowing that the EC is probably 
willing to give him most of what he wants.  END COMMENT. 
MCELHANEY