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RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PRISTINA 000698 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/ACE, S/CRS, INL, AND S/WCI, NSC FOR 
BRAUN, USUN FOR DREW SCHUFLETOWSKI, USOSCE FOR STEVE STEGER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/13/2017 
TAGS: PGOV KJUS KCRM EAID UNMIK KV
SUBJECT: KOSOVO: MINISTRY OF INTERNAL AFFAIRS SLOWLY TAKES 
ON UNMIK COMPETENCIES 
 
REF: PRISTINA 643 
 
Classified By: COM Tina Kaidanow for reasons 1.4 (b),(d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Operating for more than a year, the embryonic 
Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) is gradually taking over 
the law enforcement competencies of UNMIK, starting with 
civil status and registration, production of documents, 
emergency management, and vehicle registration.  Those 
remaining to be fully transferred are the most sensitive - 
the Central Civil Registry, asylum and repatriation 
determinations, the entry and exit of foreigners, naming the 
head of the Kosovo Police Service (KPS), and border 
management.  Plagued by limited capacity, the daunting legal 
requirements, and the challenge of standing up a new 
institution with staff from different bureaucratic cultures 
physicaly spread over four buildings, the Ministry's ability 
to successfully take on these competencies in the near-term 
will be a great challange.  Assistance by the international 
community will be essential to ensure the proper legal 
framework is in place, backed by an institutional capability 
to implement it.  We are gearing up to provide support for 
the MIA, particularly on the range of CT issues that directly 
affect our interests, through an expansion of our DOJ/ICITAP 
program.  End Summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) UNMIK created the MIA by Regulation 2005/53 in 
December 2005; the regulation marked the starting point in 
the transfer of UNMIK's competencies in law enforcement to 
the PISG.  The MIA became fully operational in April 2006, 
following drawn-out negotiations between the two government 
coalition parties, the Democratic League of Kosovo (LDK) and 
the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo (AAK), over the 
designation of the minister.  After a positive review of 
MIA's performance, the SRSG assigned additional competencies 
to the ministry through UNMIK Regulation 2006/26 in April 
¶2006.  The MIA is currently led by an LDK member, Blerim 
Kuci, who replaced another LDK member, Fatmir Rexhepi, who 
resigned after the killing of two protesters during the 
violent Vetevendosje protests of February 10, 2007.  Kuci 
served as Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs during 
Rexhepi's tenure. 
 
SLOWLY TAKING THE REINS FROM UNMIK 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) MIA exercises full responsibility for registration of 
vehicles and issuance of all civil documents except identity 
cards and travel documents (note:  this does not extend to 
Serb enclaves in southern Kosovo and the northern Serb 
municipalities, where the Serbian government continues to 
issue all such documentation).  In other areas, the MIA 
assists UNMIK in exercising several of its reserved 
competencies.  This includes implementing the applicable law 
on the movement of persons into and out of Kosovo, 
considering applications for refugee status, administering 
identity cards and travel documents, and managing the Central 
Civil Registry and database.  To carry out its border 
management authorities, the MIA cooperates through UNMIK with 
the various actors - Kosovar and international - that have 
responsibilities in the field of public order and safety. 
 
¶4.  (U) The MIA oversees the Kosovo Police Service (KPS), 
which is subject to the authority of the SRSG acting through 
the international police commissioner, but does not interfere 
with police operations and criminal investigations.  MIA 
political advisor Arber Gorani told us that the MIA's 
relations with the KPS have improved following initial 
reservations about the wisdom of allowing Kosovar oversight. 
 
¶5. (U) UNMIK has five staff monitoring the MIA overall and 
supporting the transition of competencies, headed by 
Principal International Officer Kristin Wambold-Leibling. 
There are also six UNMIK controllers at the Central 
Processing Center of the Department for Production of 
Documents who report to the Central Civil Registrar. 
 
 
PRISTINA 00000698  002 OF 003 
 
 
¶6.  (U) The MIA conducts its operations through seven 
departments -- four of which were transferred to the MIA from 
the Ministry of Public Services (MPS) and three of which were 
newly created: 
 
- Department of Registration and Civil Status 
- Department for Production of Documents 
- Department of Vehicle Registration and Driver Licenses 
- Department of Emergency Management 
- Department of Borders, Asylum, and Refugees 
- Department of Internal Security Policies 
- Department of Central Administration 
 
The MIA also houses the Kosovo Center for Public Safety, 
Development and Education (KCPSDE). 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Located in four different buildings throughout 
Pristina, the MIA has around 800 employees and is expected to 
grow to around 1,000 in 2008.  These employees have not been 
vetted, and many lack required competencies (reftel).  The 
MIA hopes to start construction of a new building to house 
the entire ministry in November 2007 and complete it within 
18 months.  The cost of this three million euro project will 
be evenly divided between the European Agency for 
Reconstruction (EAR) and the Kosovo Consolidated Budget. 
 
¶8.  (U) The MIA budget for 2007 is around 9.6 million euros, 
of which 2.1 million are dedicated to salaries, 2.65 million 
to goods and services, and 4.66 million to capital 
investment.  The MIA has requested 24 million euro for 2008, 
of which 2.75 million would be dedicated to salaries, 4.98 
million to goods and services, and 15.9 million to capital 
investments; this latter category includes the cost for the 
production of the new Kosovo passport.  The KPS budget for 
2007 was 56.4 million euro, and the KPS has requested 91 
million for 2008.  (Note: The 2008 budget review and approval 
process is still ongoing, and these figures are likely higher 
than what will be approved. End note.) 
 
PRIORITIES AND ISSUES 
--------------------- 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Continued transfer of competencies is the highest 
among the ministry's many priorities, according to Gorani. 
The minister wants to undertake a full review of police 
systems, which will likely be carried out jointly with the 
UNMIK police commissioner.  Delays in the final status 
process have afforded the ministry some breathing space in 
another critical priority - the production of new Kosovo 
passports; current estimates suggest that the MIA would be 
ready to start producing new passports 127 days from the date 
of decision on final status.  The opening of a new border 
crossing point with Montenegro, another MIA priority, is in 
process. 
 
¶10.  (C) Wambold-Liebling contends that the ministry is weak 
overall but has interested and gifted management.  She 
believes that the most critical issues ahead are how to 
transfer competencies, especially the Central Civil Registry, 
without compromising the security and integrity of the 
existing systems, how to increase the capacities of the 
staff, and how to better control the movement of foreigners 
into and out of Kosovo.  She believes the ministry needs 
assistance in the following areas: 
 
- civil registration and documents 
- repatriation, migration, asylum and border control 
- relationship between the ministry and the KPS 
- legal drafting 
- coordination of MIA departments and services 
 
¶11.  (SBU) EAR and the UK's Department for International 
Development (DFID) have been the largest providers of 
technical assistance to the MIA.  DFID assistance has focused 
primarily on drafting and then implementation and monitoring 
of the MIA strategic and operational plans; the MIA has 
applied for an additional 1.5 million euro from DFID for 
 
PRISTINA 00000698  003 OF 003 
 
 
support to the Departments of Internal Security Policies, 
Emergency Management, and Border, Asylum and Refugees.  EAR 
programs ending this fall have supported the police and 
integrated border management; future support will focus on 
compliance with EU technical standards, which is also the 
focus of UNDP's programs with the MIA.  An advisor each from 
France, Switzerland and Sweden have also been placed at the 
MIA.  The EU Planning Team plans to place several advisors in 
the MIA as part of the European Security and Defense Policy 
mission in Kosovo, which would be stood up following 
resolution of Kosovo's status. 
 
LEGISLATIVE AGENDA 
------------------ 
 
¶12.  (U) The MIA's Office of Legal Affairs has five employees 
responsible for the daunting task of drafting the twelve laws 
in the MIA's legislative agenda for 2007, as well as all 
secondary legislation and/or implementing regulations.  The 
twelve laws, at various stages of the drafting process, are: 
law on foreigners, law on travel documents, law on asylum, 
law on the place of residence, law on explosives, law on 
private security services, law on citizenship, law on 
borders, law on police, and law on police inspectorate.  Two 
related laws being drafted by other ministries are the law on 
data protection and the law on vetting and classification of 
data (reftel). These laws are essential to establishing a 
strong legal framework in Kosovo governing the movement of 
foreigners, citizenship, and Kosovo's internal security. 
 
¶13. (C) Comment:  The MIA has responsibility for some of the 
most critical areas of Kosovo's national security, as well as 
those that bear on U.S. counter-terrorism interests.  As it 
assumes additional, more sensitive functions from UNMIK, 
assistance and vigilance by USOP and other international 
actors will be essential to ensure the proper legal framework 
is in place, backed by an institutional capability to 
implement it. 
 
¶14.  (SBU) Our DOJ/ICITAP program, which will be expanded 
considerably over the next year, will have the lead in these 
areas. The first major component of our ICITAP program is the 
Ministry of Internal Affairs Capacity Building project, which 
will embed a senior advisor to work alongside the minister 
and his staff to ensure effective operations and oversights 
of the ministry, as well as acceptance and implementation of 
international norms of policing. Another important program 
initiative will be provision of a Border, Asylum and Refugee 
advisor to the ministry, who will coordinate with border and 
customs agencies, as well as the KPS Office of Foreigners, to 
ensure security-based criteria for immigration.  The third 
major component of the ICITAP program will be the Rule of Law 
Information Technology project.  This project will link all 
rule of law components (judiciary, prosecutors, and law 
enforcement/security agencies) with a single source for 
secure data retrieval and storage. End comment. 
KAIDANOW