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RUEASWA/DTRA ALEX WASHINGTON DC//OSAE PRIORITY
RUEHPS/AMEMBASSY PRISTINA 0700

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 USOSCE 000204 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR VCI/CCA, EUR/RPM 
NSC FOR DEFENSE POLICY & STRATEGY 
JCS FOR J5/COL NORWOOD 
OSD FOR ISA (PERENYI) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/20/2018 
TAGS: BK KCFE OSCE PARM PREL RS SR
SUBJECT: DAYTON ARTICLE IV ON EX-YUGOSLAVIA ARMS 
CONTROL--REVIEW CONFERENCE GOES SMOOTHLY 
 
Classified By: Chief Arms Control Delegate Hugh Neighbour, 
for reasons 1.4(b) and (d). 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  The Sixth Review Conference for Dayton 
Article IV implementation was held in Vienna on 3-4 July 
¶2008.  The conference went very smoothly -- there were no 
contentious issues between Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia and 
Montenegro.  Indeed, the main area of discussion centered on 
ways the Parties would take on increased "ownership" of the 
agreement, while retaining involvement of the broader 
international community.  All avoided the issue of Kosovo. 
Meanwhile, the CiO,s Personal Representative (PR), Italian 
Brigadier General Periotto, will address the OSCE Permanent 
Council on September 25 regarding Dayton activities.  USDel 
recommends that that U.S. express strong support for his 
position and for the leadership he has shown.  The next 
"Article IV Sub-Regional Consultative Commission" meeting 
will be 15-16 October in Montenegro.  End summary. 
 
 
Sixth Review Conference 
 
¶2. (SBU) The "Sixth Conference to Review the Implementation 
of the Agreement on Sub-Regional Arms Control" was held in 
Vienna, 3-4 July.  The Review Conference began with a three 
hour preparatory committee the day before, in which the 
majority of the work on the final document was hammered out 
in advance between the parties themselves, Bosnia, Croatia, 
Serbia and Montenegro.  They did this without the presence of 
the Contact Group (CG), i.e., Britain, France, Germany, 
Italy, Russia, U.S. 
 
¶3. (SBU) The Review Conference concluded after a brief final 
session on 4 July, which followed an opening dinner on 2 July 
and a three-hour session on 3 July.  There were no 
contentious issues and only a few areas of significant 
discussion. 
 
 
Moving Towards Local "Ownership":  Only Questions Pace, Depth 
 
¶4. (SBU) The main area of open-ended discussion and 
"brainstorming" during the Review Conference concerned the 
pace, depth, and definition of steps to be taken by the 
Parties to assume greater "autonomy" within the Article IV 
process.  The PR, Italian Brigadier General Periotto, in his 
opening statement, called for eventual "full and final" 
transfer of ownership to the Parties. (Comment:  USOSCE had 
been working with both PR and CG to encourage such a 
statement from the PR.  End comment). 
 
¶5. (SBU) All four of the Parties responded in statements that 
they also wanted to work towards more responsibility. 
Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia edged to a more moderate pace 
of such transfer of autonomy, with continued involvement and 
supervision of the PR and the International Community. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Croatia edged to a more aggressive transfer of 
autonomy.  The Croatian Head of Delegation, Sanja 
Bujas-Jaraga told U.S. reps on the margins that Croatia was 
interested in removing the concept of "supervision" of 
Article IV implementation, in favor of "partnership" between 
the Parties and the PR.  After Bujas-Jaraga's intervention, 
the Croatian Head of Verification emphasized to US reps that 
he would like to see continued International Community 
participation in inspections in order to provide "witnesses" 
to any problems.  A transition from Assistants to Observers, 
or guest inspectors, could take place.  Regardless, all 
Parties agreed to consider specific ways to assume increased 
autonomy, or "ownership" of the Agreement. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The Final Document of the Sixth Review Conference 
included language that expressed that the Parties will 
"explore the modalities for further strengthening of their 
 
USOSCE 00000204  002 OF 004 
 
 
ownership over the implementation of the Agreement for the 
purpose of gradual achievement of full autonomy in its 
implemen-tation".  Bosnia-Herzegovina perhaps best espoused 
the additional benefits of this process when it stated during 
an intervention that "ownership gives new incentives; it 
makes us energetic and attentive to increase cooperation and 
collaboration with one another in developing new ideas." 
 
 
Euro-Atlantic vs. European 
 
¶8. (SBU) A short disagreement concerned whether Parties 
should substitute "European" for the oft-used term 
"Euro-Atlantic" in the final document.  All Parties committed 
themselves to increased integration to "the West", but Serbia 
objected to the term "Euro-Atlantic" as essentially meaning 
NATO, while "European" would make clear that integration into 
the European Union was the main goal.  Croatia led the 
successful charge to maintain the term "Euro-Atlantic", 
arguing that it was inclusive of aspirations to join NATO 
and/or the EU. 
 
 
Amendment to Article IV to Include Montenegro 
 
¶9. (SBU) The Parties expressed their satisfaction that, 
during the period after the V Review Con-ference, Montenegro 
became a Party to the Agreement in accordance with the 
Deci-sion as of 16 January 2007. The Final Document notes 
that the process of involvement of Montenegro into the work 
of all activities has "been achieved due to full political 
will and readiness of Montenegro to participate in the 
implementation of the Agreement."   However, the Amendment to 
Article IV to formally incorporate Montenegro was NOT signed 
during the Review Conference due to Serbia's lack of 
government.  Serbia did, however, agree in principle and 
resolved to sign during the next Sub-Regional Consultative 
Commission meeting, 15-16 October 2008, in Montenegro. 
 
 
Issues for Future Discussion and Solution 
 
¶10. (SBU) In addition to "autonomy transfer," several other 
issues were discussed during the conference and included in 
the Final Document under issues requiring "further 
discussion."  These include: 
 
-- Finalizing the procedures for issuing the Statements on 
voluntary limitations on military manpower; 
-- Considering the issue of the minimum number of quotas 
ensuring a stable inspection regime; 
-- Considering initiatives to simplify existing allowable 
procedures for equipment reduction; 
-- Finalizing the process of development of a handbook for 
implementation of the Agreement on Sub-regional Arms Control; 
 and 
-- Expressing their readiness to initiate an exchange of 
opinions with regard to considering the Adapted CFE treaty as 
a possible suitable long-term alternative to the Article IV 
Agreement.  (Note:  Several of the Parties went even further 
in their support to strongly consider eventual accession to 
the Adapted CFE Treaty, assuming an eventual entry into 
force.  End note.) 
 
 
U.S. Succeeds at Keeping Kosovo Out; Russia Blocks CG 
Statement 
 
¶11. (C) Russia did not make an intervention during the Review 
Conference, keeping the agreement among Contact Group (CG) 
members not to "break silence" on the Kosovo issue. 
Similarly, the Parties themselves avoided the issue. 
 
¶12. (C) In the days and weeks before the Conference, at the 
 
USOSCE 00000204  003 OF 004 
 
 
request of the PR, the CG worked on a German draft CG 
Statement for the Sixth Review Conference.  The German draft 
contained support for the Personal Representative, the 
Parties, implementation successes, and the transfer of 
ownership to the Parties themselves. 
 
¶13. (C) However, on "very firm" instructions from Moscow, 
Russia (Balakin) prevented a joint statement by the CG 
through its insistence that any CG statement include a 
reference that would imply that Kosovo is part of Serbia. 
Russia insisted on inserting a "clear and unambiguous 
reference" stating that the Article IV Area of Application 
(currently Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia and 
Bosnia-Herzegovina) includes the territory of Kosovo. 
Periotto believed that such a statement, or even a 
German-proposed alternative that would allow for 
"constructive ambiguity" would be counter-productive because 
all of the Parties' were interested, at least for now, in 
avoiding the political issue in Article IV.  After strong 
U.S. objection for any reference to Kosovo, the PR requested 
the draft CG statement be rescinded. 
 
 
Staffing Changes for Article IV 
 
¶14. (SBU) Periotto will lose three very experienced staff 
members, all secondees, two of which are rotators, this 
summer:  Retired German Lt. Colonel Helmut Kruse with over 10 
years experience and German Major Joern Wiederholz, who moves 
to the NATO International Staff, and his Personal Assistant, 
Italian Major Gabriele DeFeo. 
 
¶15. (C) During a private lunch with U.S. rep Claus, Periotto 
outlined his plan for the future.  He intends to continue to 
keep the international community (IC) involved and has 
confirmed the interest of the Parties to continue 
participation of the IC.  Periotto has rejected his 
predecessor,s proposal to downsize the rank of the PR or to 
move his office to the CPC.  He plans to remove one of two 
German operations officer, secondee slots and will replace 
DeFeo with an Italian Lt. Colonel who is already selected. 
He completely understands the U.S. interest in saving money 
within the Secretariat and is willing to work with the U.S. 
 
¶16. (SBU) On 24 July, the U.S. delegation hosted a luncheon 
for the members of the CG and Periotto and his staff, three 
of which are departing this summer.  The U.S. took the 
opportunity to thank General Periotto for his leadership and 
forward-leaning ideas to transfer additional autonomy to the 
Article IV states.  The General and CG members bid farewell 
to U.S. representative Jon Claus, the only member of the 
current CG leaving before the next Sub-Regional Consultative 
Commission.  The remaining members, as well as U.S. 
co-representative, LTC Alan Hester, will next meet in 
Montenegro, during the next meeting of the Sub-Regional 
Consultative Commission, 15-16 October 2008. 
 
 
Montenegro and Kosovo 
 
¶17. (C) During the lunch with Claus, Periotto shared his 
assessment on the potential for Montenegrin recognition of 
Kosovo.  After early July discussions with the Head of 
Mission in Pristina (Amb. Badescu) and Montenegrin military 
leadership, including the CHOD), Periotto believes that 
Montenegro already has made the decision to recognize 
Kosovo,s UDI, and could do so as early as in mid-August. 
Amb. Badescu was worried about the impact of this.  When 
questioned, he did not attribute this assessment to any one 
representative, but from different conversations. 
 
¶18. (C) According to Periotto, the Serbian Military Advisor 
to the OSCE, Lt. General Zaric, has told him that the Serbian 
reaction to this act will be "180 degrees" different from 
 
USOSCE 00000204  004 OF 004 
 
 
Serbia,s reaction to Croatian recognition of Kosovo because 
Montenegro is Serbia's "little brother."  This could impact 
the signing of the Article IV amendments and implementation 
of Article IV.  Additionally, Montenegro will provide its 
first military advisor to the OSCE soon - Lt. General 
Martinovic, who will be the same rank as the Serbian Military 
Advisor. 
 
 
Good News on INA Formats 
 
¶19. (SBU) Article IV staffer Wiederholz informed U.S. reps 
that the INA formats for Dayton were completed by the 
contractor way under budget.  The estimate for the work was 
originally 70,000 euros, while only 30,000 was allocated. 
U.S. rep Claus reviewed the formats for accuracy.  They will 
be provided to the Communications Group at its next meeting 
for approval and subsequent use by the Parties.  (Comment: 
German Major Wiederholz deserves the credit for pushing for 
completion of this project.  End comment.) 
 
 
Support for CiO's Rep in the PC 
 
¶20. (SBU) Periotto will address the OSCE Permanent Council on 
25 September regarding Dayton activities.  Periotto is the 
most pro-U.S. PR so far and has been willing to listen to 
U.S. reps and implement their suggestions at every 
opportunity.  USDel recommends that U.S. express strong 
support for his position and for the leadership he has shown 
on this occasion. 
FINLEY