VZCZCXRO6018
RR RUEHFL RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHTRO
DE RUEHVB #0281/01 0870957
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 270957Z MAR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ZAGREB
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8785
INFO RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0078

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ZAGREB 000281 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR IO, EUR/SCE, EUR/PGI AND EUR/PPD; NSC FOR 
BRAUN; OSD FOR WINTERNITZ 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/26/2018 
TAGS: PREL PGOV HR KO UN
SUBJECT: KOSOVO, IRAN AND COUNTERTERRORISM DOMINATE A/S 
SILVERBERG'S CONSULTATIONS WITH CROATIANS ON UNSC ISSUES 
 
Classified By: Chris Rhoton, POL/ECON, Reasons 1.4 B/D 
 
¶1. SUMMARY: (U) Assistant Secretary for International 
Organizations Kristen Silverberg visited Croatia on March 
17-18 to discuss United Nations Security Council issues.  The 
A/S held working meetings with senior officials from the MFA 
and the Offices of the President and Prime Minister, as well 
as outreach events with students of Croatia's Diplomatic 
Academy and representatives from Croatia's opposition parties 
and academic community.  The visit highlighted the strong 
cooperation thus far between the U.S. and the GoC on the 
UNSC, and Croatian officials expressed their commitment to 
work closely with the U.S. and EU to address the difficult 
issues facing the Council in the coming months.  The GoC 
identified Kosovo and Iran as among the most pressing issues 
on the Council's agenda.  Both countries also hope to 
re-energize the UN's Counterterrorism Committee, which 
Croatia currently leads.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (C) In a brief initial meeting, FM Goran Jandrokovic, 
told A/S Silverberg that the GoC was very satisfied with how 
its UNSC term was going so far.  Croatia remains absolutely 
committed to coordinating its stances with the EU and the 
U.S.  In the subsequent working sessions, Pjer Simunovic, 
Assistant Minister for International Organizations and 
Security Affairs, commented that Croatia's two months of UNSC 
experience had reassured him that "there is hope for 
multilateralism in the world" given the effective P-5 
consensus on the majority of the issues facing the UNSC. 
 
KOSOVO, B-H 
----------- 
 
¶3. (C) Regarding Kosovo, Simunovic stressed that any 
deterioration in the situation on the ground would be a 
disaster and would threaten regional stability.  He added 
that Croatia recalled its own experiences with roadblocks, 
and attempts by local Serb populations to seek partition. 
The international community needs to "stand firm."  The 
upcoming May 11 parliamentary elections in Serbia would be a 
referendum on the country's future, and Simunovic expressed 
the need for the international community to support the 
democratic forces seeking stronger ties to the West. 
Simunovic, citing his recent consultations in Moscow, also 
said he believed Belgrade had miscalculated Russia's long 
term interest in Kosovo, and that the Serbian people would 
ultimately be disappointed when Russia's support wanes in 
favor of other strategic goals. 
 
¶4. (C) Simunovic also stressed that the GoC viewed Kosovo as 
a unique situation and rejected any attempts to use it as a 
precedent for other independence movements, particularly in 
neighboring Bosnia-Herzegovina.  In B-H, Simunovic said the 
GoC fully supported High Rep Lajcak.  While Croatia was 
keenly aware of the need to accommodate all three constituent 
nations' political existence, "the imperative is to keep 
Bosnia-Herzegovina together."  Davor Steir, foreign policy 
advisor to PM Sanader, stressed that B-H was another place 
that needed a firm position from the international community, 
particularly in regards to the actions of the Republika 
Srpska leadership. 
 
IRAN AND THE IAEA 
----------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) Simunovic said the GoC very much appreciated the good 
cooperation among the EU3 and the P5 on Iran issues.  He 
noted that recent sanctions against Iran had been adopted 
into Croatia's legal framework, and expressed support for 
keeping pressure on Iran to make its nuclear program fully 
transparent.  Mario Horvatic, Croatia's representative on the 
International Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Board of 
Governors, was, however, somewhat critical of recent 
developments in Vienna, and urged better coordination among 
"like-minded" governments.  He explained that many "allies" 
of the U.S. were blind-sided by the recent technical briefing 
by Deputy Director General for Safeguards Heinonen.  He said 
the GoC understood the need for some measure of secrecy in 
the run-up to the briefing, but that support for various 
proposals would be more likely if there were fewer surprises. 
 In this instance, since there was no opportunity to prepare, 
the Croatian rep had ended up staying silent, which was 
"awkward."  Another specific concern was to avoid any 
appearance the West is presenting Iran with a moving target. 
When Iran cooperates on one issue, "green salt" for example, 
 
ZAGREB 00000281  002 OF 002 
 
 
a "new" issue like polonium is given primacy.  He argued the 
Iranians were exploiting this perception to gain sympathy 
among IAEA board members, especially when some of the issues 
are not well understood by all IAEA members.  Noting that 
securing support among IAEA members was in some ways more 
complicated than even at the UNSC, Horvatic felt it was 
critical, when possible, to collate available information and 
place all outstanding issues on the table at the same time. 
He also noted his wish that, from Croatia's perspective, 
coordination could be improved between the EU3 and the 
overall EU.  He claimed that a recent EU-wide statement had 
been too distinct from the contemporaneous EU3 statement, 
with the EU Presidency's comments too "watered down."  In a 
subsequent session, Tomislav Jakic, foreign policy advisor to 
President Mesic noted that the GoC places great importance on 
the role of the IAEA in maintaining pressure on Iran.  Jakic 
noted that Mesic was willing to serve as a channel of 
communication to the Iranian regime, but was also not going 
to be "used" by Tehran as a tool to claim that Iran had good 
relations with the West.  Ahemdi-Nejad regularly invited 
Mesic to visit Tehran, but Jakic said no such visit would 
occur until Iran met its international obligations and 
stopped threatening Israel. 
 
COUNTERTERRORISM COMMITTEE, AFGHANISTAN, AND OTHER ISSUES 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶6.  (C) Regarding the Counterterrorism Committee, which 
Croatia now chairs, A/S Silverberg urged Croatia to consider 
efforts to give the body a more active and relevant role, 
perhaps through streamlining reporting requirements or 
organizing visits to countries needing help and encouragement 
in meeting the reporting requirements.  Simunovic said the 
GoC strongly supported re-energizing the CTC, and fully 
agreed with an effort to streamline reporting.  But he also 
noted that such efforts would most likely bear fruit if they 
were not perceived as "intrusive".  Croatia wants to pursue a 
"dual track" approach that would focus both on making 
"repressive" measure effective, but also addressing the root 
causes of terrorism and be a "helping hand" rather than a 
burden to countries who cooperate with the committee. 
Another key issue would be to determine which countries could 
productively benefit from more CTC attention.  Simunovic 
noted that they had seen some country visits that did not 
make much sense because there were no serious 
terrorism-related issues to discuss in the country visited. 
 
¶7. (C) Discussion of CT issues led naturally to talk of 
Afghanistan and Iraq.  The GoC views Afghanistan as the 
country's primary contribution to the international 
community.  They saw little progress in Afghanistan as 
compared to Iraq, and expressed hope the UN would take a more 
visible role in the country.  Simunovic noted that the GoC 
still had under consideration a proposal for Croatia to 
assume the leadership of a PRT.  GoC representatives vowed 
the country would stand firm in its commitment to Afghanistan 
even if Croatian forces in the region suffered a casualty. 
Though non-specific, the GoC claimed to have a contingency 
plan for dealing with the likely public outcry under such 
circumstances. 
 
¶8.  (C) Rounding out the exchange, the GoC noted they would 
be contributing troops to the UN's peacekeeping efforts in 
the Golan Heights.  The GoC also expressed support for UN 
efforts in both Burma and Sudan.  On both issues, the GoC 
representatives were interested in the U.S. assessment of the 
role China would likely play in efforts to resolve both 
crises.  Regarding Africa, Simunovic also solicited U.S. 
views for the ideas floated by South Africa on cooperation 
between the UN and regional organizations such as the African 
Union.  Simunovic took A/S Silverberg's point regarding 
concerns that the proposal was not only about better 
coordination between the organizations, which the U.S. 
supports, but also about allowing the AU to tap into regular 
UN budget resources, which the U.S. opposes.  Simunovic said 
he had heard similar concerns from the UK.  He added that 
Croatia was still thinking about possible themes for its 
first session as UNSC president in December. 
 
¶9. (U) A/S Silverberg has cleared this report. 
Bradtke