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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #2199/01 3342214
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 302214Z NOV 06
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0837

C O N F I D E N T I A L USUN NEW YORK 002199 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2011 
TAGS: AORC KUNR UNGA
SUBJECT: SCALE OF ASSESSMENTS: URGENT REQUEST FOR GUIDANCE 
ON THE UNPAID ASSESSED DUES OF THE SOCIALIST FORMER 
REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA 
 
REF: A. USUN 01902 
 
     ¶B. USUN 02167 
     ¶C. USUN 02184 
 
Classified By: Classified By: Ambassador Mark D. Wallace; Reasons: 1.4 
(B) and (D). 
 
¶1. (U) ACTION REQUEST:  Discussion on the unpaid assessed 
dues of the Socialist Former Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) 
will occur on December 1 in the Fifth Committee.  USUN 
reiterates its request for guidance in time for Fifth 
Committee discussions.END ACTION REQUEST 
 
¶2. (U) SUMMARY: Ambassador Wallace met November 29 with 
Slovenian Ambassador Rudolf Gabrovec to discuss the issue of 
unpaid assessments of the SFRY.  Amb. Gabrovec, the 
"successor" State designee leading the negotiations on this 
matter on behalf of the five States that emerged from the 
SFRY, reiterated the "successor" States' position initially 
conveyed by Croatian Permanent Representative Mrijana 
Mladineo in her meeting with Amb. Wallace on November 14 (see 
reftel USUN 02197).  The "successor" States, who are in 
agreement on this issue, propose resolving the matter on the 
basis that they would pay arrears of the SFRY up until the 
date on which the last "successor" State established its 
separate identity in 1992, but that the arrears for the 
subsequent years until 2000 should be written off.  The 
proposal by the "successor" States, in principle, adopts the 
second option by the Secretary-General in his report to the 
General Assembly on this issue (A/60/140).  However, the 
proposal of the "successor" States differs in terms of the 
interpretation and implementation of that approach from the 
Secretary-General's report resulting in a dramatic difference 
 
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between the "successor" States proposed payment plan and the 
report as to the amount owed under that approach.  The report 
indicates that the amount owed is $8,009,454 while the 
proposal of the "successor" States maintains that it is 
$784,585.  USUN seeks guidance to support, in principle, the 
successor State approach to resolving the matter and write 
off amounts arising after the last successor State 
established its separate identity. END SUMMARY 
 
3.(U) The Secretary-General's report entitled Unpaid Assessed 
Contributions of the Former Yugoslavia (A/60/140) presents 
three possible options for the General Assembly to consider 
in resolving the matter. 
- Option 1: Write off the full amount of assessments and 
credits outstanding for the former Yugoslavia. 
- Option 2: Seek payment from the five successor States of 
arrears arising before the dissolution of the Socialist 
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and to write off amounts 
arising thereafter, in accordance with the approach suggested 
by the representative of Ghana. 
- Option 3: Seek payment from the five successor States of 
arrears arising before the dissolution of the Socialist 
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and to seek payment of the 
balance from Serbia and Montenegro based on the principle of 
estoppel. 
 
4.(U) The "successor" States support Option 2, the approach 
proposed by Ghana, and interpret the approach to result in 
the amount of $784,585.  This amount is in contrast to the 
Secretariat's interpretation of the same approach that 
 
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calculates $8,009,454 as the amount owed.  The "successor" 
States explain this difference in their proposal as follows: 
"Taking into account the above criteria put forward by the 
representative of Ghana the Secretariat made its own 
interpretation and calculation of the amount outstanding 
($8,009,454) to the account of the SFRY.  The firm position 
of the successor states however is that the amount calculated 
by the Secretariat does not reflect all today known facts and 
is inaccurate and therefore unacceptable for the successor 
states" (para. 21). The Secretariat's report explains the 
basis for its determination of the amount owed in para. 30 
and annexes VI-IX of its report A/60/140. 
 
 
5.(U) The proposal by Ghana follows as quoted in paras. 47-48 
in the summary record of the seventh meeting of the Fifth 
Committee during the Fifty-Seventh Session (A/C.5/57/SR.7): 
 
-- QUOTE.  With regard to the arrears of the former 
Yugoslavia, clear directions were needed so that the 
Secretariat could settle that issue definitively.  General 
 
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Assembly resolutions 47/1 and 47/229 affirmed that the 
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) could 
not continue automatically the membership of the Federal 
Republic of Yugoslavia, but they were the result of a 
political compromise and contained many legal contradictions. 
 Although the resolutions stated that the Socialist Federal 
Republic of Yugoslavia was no longer a member of the United 
Nations, the General Assembly had continued to endorse rates 
 
 
 
of assessment for that State for periods 1995-1997 and 
1998-2000 based on data obtained solely from the Federal 
Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro).  Furthermore, 
the opinion of the Legal Counsel, in particular regarding the 
principle of estoppel in the context of attempts by the 
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to exercise the rights of the 
former Yugoslavia at the international level, was not wholly 
satisfactory, given that the decisions of the General 
Assembly proscribed the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 
participating in the General Assembly and the Economic and 
Social Council and from exercising rights in the name of the 
Yugoslavia.  It was evidently not well-advised either to link 
the loss of membership of the former Yugoslavia to the 
admission of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia into the 
Organization. 
 
-- In any case the letters from the permanent missions of the 
five successor States made it clear that the States that had 
constituted the former Yugoslavia were indeed successor 
States and that what had occurred was a dissolution and 
succession, not secession.  The focus should therefore be on 
the pre-dissolution arrears and the solution adopted must not 
produce unintended legal effects.  His delegation recommended 
that the Secretariat should calculate the arrears of the 
former Yugoslavia up to 25 June 1991, the date on which 
Slovenia had announced that it had ceased to exist as part of 
the former Yugoslavia, as well as the amounts outstanding as 
of 17 September 1991, 8 October 1991, 6 March 1992 and 27 
April 1992, the dates on which Bosnia and Herzegovina, 
Croatia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the former 
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, respectively, had informed 
the Secretaray-General that they had ceased to exist as part 
of the former Yugoslavia, without prejudice to the 
recommendations of the Arbitration Commission chaired by Mr. 
Badinter and advised by Lord Carrington.  Based on the 
amounts determined through that process, the Secretariat 
would request the five successor States to pay arrears of the 
former Yugoslavia taking into account the above dates and, 
where appropriate, the agreement which they had signed on 29 
June 2001 to apportion among themselves the arrears of the 
former Yugoslavia.  The arrears for the period from 27 April 
1992, the date on which the last successor State to the 
former Yugoslavia had established its separate identity, up 
to 1 November 2001, should be written off.  END QUOTE. 
 
 
¶6. (C) USUN believes that the approach proposed by the 
"successor" States, in principle, is both reasonable and 
fair, although there is a great difference between the 
Secretariat's report (A/60/140) and the "successor" States' 
 
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proposal on the amount owed applying the Ghanaian approach. 
This position is consistent with the US position articulated 
in the post Yugoslavia break up period that Serbia/Montenegro 
was not the continuation of Yugoslavia and should apply for 
membership.  USUN also notes that this approach, waiving the 
accumulated assessments for the years following the date that 
the last successor State established its separate identity, 
is consistent with the position that the US took in regard to 
the decision of the General Assembly to waive the assessments 
for South Africa during the 20 years that it was excluded 
from participating in the General Assembly.  A/Res/50/83 (17 
January 1996).  USUN believes that supporting the proposal of 
the "successor" States would benefit our efforts in the 
broader Scale of Assessments negotiations in two key ways. 
First, supporting the proposal has the strong potential to 
provide a unified bloc of the "successor" States within the 
EU, now sympathetic to the US positions, as they debate 
whether or not to pursue a ceiling increase (see reftel USUN 
02184).  Secondly, in the context of the G-77's firm 
opposition to any changes to the gradient (discount) in the 
methodology (see reftel USUN 02184), USUN could preemptively 
show support for the "successor" State proposal and reiterate 
our willingness to help less fortunate Member States across 
the board; in this instance and through our proposal for a 
stepped gradient. 
 
5.(U) USUN accordingly seeks authority to endorse the 
approach proposed by the "successor" States and seeks 
guidance as to the US position on the amount owed based on 
the Ghana approach.  If it is not possible to take a position 
on the amount owed under that approach at the December 1 
meeting on Scale of Assessments, USUN would appreciate 
approval to support the approach of the "successor" States 
during negotiations while noting that there are outstanding 
technical issues relating to the implementation.  USUN has 
provided relevant documents to Department for its review (see 
reftel USUN 02197). 
 
 
 
BOLTON