VZCZCXRO6914
OO RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBW #1130 2221001
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 101001Z AUG 07
FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1310
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS BELGRADE 001130 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PBTS PREL PGOV SR KV
SUBJECT:  Kosovo Weekly Report (August 6 - 10, 2007) 
 
¶1.  (u)  This report covers activities related to Kosovo for the 
week of August 6. 
 
¶2.  (sbu) Summary:  This week was dominated by the Serbian 
government's preparation for the visit of the mediating Troika to 
Belgrade - the GoS's adoption of proposed rules for the talks, the 
forming of a new negotiating team, and GoS calls for USG (but not 
Moscow) impartiality. End Summary. 
 
GOVERNMENT OF SERBIA ACTIVITIES 
 
¶3. (sbu) Belgrade media reported over the weekend the six elements 
of the Serbian government's proposed rules for the talks: focus on 
the Kosovo status, direct talks and without a timetable, Ahtisaari's 
plan not to be used as basis, the entire process under UN mandate, 
and UNSC must make the relevant decisions.  The proposals were sent 
to the UNSYG and to the ambassadors of the CG countries. 
 
¶4. (sbu) Daily Vecernje Novosti announced that Serbia's new team 
will be known this week.  The known members include PM Kostunica, 
President Tadic, FonMin Jeremic, and Kosovo Minister Samardzic. The 
daily, citing several sources, wrote that members of the opposition 
parties who supported the resolution on continued negotiations 
should be invited to join the team. DSS Spokesman Mladenovic stated 
on August 6 that Serbia's negotiating team for Kosovo could only be 
formed after the first meeting between Serbia's top officials and 
the CG mediators. The modalities (form, content and manner) of the 
talks should be established first before the team is formed, he 
added. 
 
¶5. (sbu) Belgrade media reported on August 7 that PM Kostunica said 
that new negotiations with new mediators open possibilities for 
reaching a compromise solution that meets the interests of Serbia 
and Kosovo Albanians. He underscored that Russia and Serbia will 
represent a policy based on respect for international law, and urged 
many countries, members of UNSG and European states to support this 
policy. 
 
¶6. (sbu) FoNet reported on August 8 that Politika's  Editor-in-chief 
Smajlovic assessed that Belgrade would rather lose the whole of 
Kosovo than divide it. She believes that there are growing hopes in 
Washington that division is the second best solution. 
 
¶7. (sbu) DSS Education Minister Loncar urged the U.S. on August 7 to 
full restraint and impartiality in the process of resolving Kosovo's 
future status and declared that the U.S. is trying to revive the 
plan of Ahtisaari, which has been "definitely rejected."   Troika's 
Russian Representative Bocan-Harchenko told B92 on August 8 that 
Russia opposes time limits for the talks, and reiterated that 
Ahtisaari's plan may not serve as a base for the forthcoming talks 
(Belgrade did not encourage Moscow to behave impartially, to 
absolutely no one's surprise). 
 
¶8. (sbu) In an article submitted to NIN magazine, Kostunica's 
Advisor, Alexander Simic, stated that Ahtisaari's plan could be 
concealing NATO's intention to establish its own state in Kosovo. He 
noted that under the Ahtisaari plan, the commander of international 
forces in an independent Kosovo, NATO-appointee, would have the 
supreme power about the use of military force, and that Camp 
Bondsteel (the US military base outside Urosevac in Southern Kosovo) 
would serve as Kosovo's capital. 
 
DIPLOMATIC ACTIVITIES 
 
¶9. (sbu) Newly-elected Albanian President Bamir Topi said on August 
7 that Kosovo would soon gain independence, with the support of "the 
international factor," and that Albanian institutions gave an 
unreserved support to the negotiating team of Kosovo in the process 
of resolving Kosovo's future status. 
 
¶10. (sbu) Belgrade media reported that before the CG meeting in 
London on August 9, Troika's EU Representative Ischinger stated that 
the international community and the CG Troika were offering Belgrade 
and Pristina their last chance to reach a negotiated settlement.  He 
also said that the parties would be encouraged to suggest their own 
ideas for solving the problems while the troika would act as 
mediator in that dialogue. He stressed that the starting point in 
the Kosovo status talks must be the actual situation on the ground 
and that Kosovo has not been under Serbia's administration and 
control for the past 8 years.  After the CG meeting, Ischinger said 
that the meeting was a good beginning of the difficult mission 
ahead; adding that the success or failure of the new negotiations 
will be the success or failure for Belgrade and Pristina. 
 
SIMMONS