VZCZCXRO2601
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHSQ #0577/01 2590523
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 150523Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY SKOPJE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7677
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE 0409
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUESEN/SKOPJE BETA
RUEHSQ/USDAO SKOPJE MK
RHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 SKOPJE 000577 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR/SCE AND INR/B 
 
E.O. 12958: NA 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL MK AL KV
SUBJECT: DPA CRACKS UP 
 
Sensitive but unclassified - please protect accordingly. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: Ethnic Albanian DPA Vice Presidents Imer Selmani 
and Ruzhdi Matoshi have left the party to form a new one based on 
"ideas and values," breaking from what they call the thuggish 
politics of DPA leader Menduh Thaci.  Selmani and Matoshi have so 
far pulled with them a total of three DPA MPs some other prominent 
party members, and claim 70% of the party apparatus has also 
followed.  They assert that Thaci has initiated a "witch hunt," 
including personal threats of violence.  Thaci denies it all: he 
says Selmani is a tool of the Gruevski government, the new party 
lacks a political base and any separate political philosophy, and he 
and his people have made no threats.  For now, our priority is to 
ensure this divorce is a peaceful one.  End summary. 
 
A New Democracy? 
---------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) After months of furtive internal dissent within the 
Democratic Party of Albanians (DPA), party Vice Presidents Imer 
Selmani and Ruzhdi Matoshi have broken off from the party to form 
their own, along with at least a handful of other DPA activists, 
including former Minister of Education Rushiti and MP Abedin 
Zumberi.  Selmani, himself a Minister of Health from 2006-2008, has 
emerged as the leader and has courted international support, 
including our own.  He told us that he wants to leave DPA's 
reputation of thuggery and criminality behind and to pursue policies 
based on "ideas and values," though he has not been clear on how 
these policies will differ from DPA's own: a demand for a stronger 
law on languages, recognition of Kosovo, dropping the ICTY cases 
returned from The Hague, compensation for all victims (i.e., 
including e-Albanians) from the 2001 violence, etc. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Selmani rejected any hint that his new party - as yet 
unnamed, though he is considering "New Democracy" or "New Albanian 
Democracy" -- will mend fences with the largest e-Albanian party, 
the Democratic Union for Integration, though he said he did hope to 
pull one or two dissatisfied DUI MPs into his party.  (This could be 
critical for Selmani, in that a party needs five MPs to constitute a 
parliamentary group, which provides far greater access to debate and 
other parliamentary privileges.  So far he only has three guaranteed 
MPs.)  Though cooperation with DUI is out of the question, Selmani 
said he wanted a civilized debate with his rivals, not a 
relationship based solely on personal hostility.  He told us Sept. 
11 that, unlike Thaci, he would meet DUI leader Ali Ahmeti; however, 
Selmani also stated that he will not carry on a dialogue with 
"criminal elements" within DUI. 
 
¶4. (SBU) In Selmani's telling, dissatisfaction with DPA leader 
Menduh Thaci came to a head at an angry Aug 28 party meeting, at 
which Thaci allegedly quashed discussion of an internal party survey 
which blamed the party leadership and Thaci in particular for recent 
DPA failures, including yet another loss to DUI in June 2008 
parliamentary elections in which, to compound matters, DPA stood 
accused as the primary culprit for carrying out voter intimidation, 
ballot stuffing, and other fraud.  Selmani said only he, Matoshi, 
Sulejman Rushiti, and Besim Dogani rose to decry Thaci and demand 
changes.  Thereafter all the speakers save Dogani decided it was 
time to make a clean break. 
 
Claims of Intimidation 
--------------------------- 
 
¶5. (SBU) Selmani accused Thaci of instigating a "witch hunt" to 
intimidate those who did or might join the breakaway.  According to 
Selmani, the notorious Krasniqi brothers (as in Agim Krasniqi, now 
in jail awaiting serious charges election violence on behalf of DPA 
last June) called the mayor of Saraj, Bekim Fazliu, and threatened 
to break his bones.  However, Selmani reported, the brothers 
contacted him later to call off the threat and denounce Thaci. 
Selmani also accused Thaci of recruiting Islamic Community of 
Macedonia President Rexhepi to condemn Selmani from the pulpit (he 
reportedly refused).  Fazliu subsequently wrote the Embassy on Sept 
10 to claim that these attempts at intimidation were ongoing, and 
the following day Selmani repeated these assertions to us. 
According to Selmani, this harassment includes late-night 
threatening phone calls, repeated pass-bys of their houses by thugs 
in cars, etc, but no actual violence yet. 
 
¶6. (SBU) Matoshi told us Sept 4 that 70% of the DPA party apparatus 
had already broken away from Thaci.  The papers have carried claims 
by DPA defectors that DPA offices in at least five cities have 
switched allegiances, with one story claiming 80% of the DPA 
 
SKOPJE 00000577  002 OF 002 
 
 
faithful have departed.  This seems like an exaggeration, but is 
difficult to verify at this time. 
 
Thaci: No Threats, No Substance 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) For his part, Thaci at first disappeared, traveling to 
Albania and Kosovo in an apparent effort to court support from 
leaders there.  He returned to Macedonia earlier this week, telling 
the press that the defections are no threat to the party, and 
accused Selmani of forming a conspiracy with PM Gruevski, who he 
predicted would offer the new party a place in the ruling coalition. 
 Other contacts have echoed this view: Igor Ilievski, a Vice 
President of the largest e-Macedonian opposition party, SDSM, told 
us Sept. 10 that Gruevski and Selmani are personally close and that 
he was certain Gruevski would offer the new party a ministry. 
Ilievski suggested that Selmani and his followers are opportunists, 
seeking to get back into the government jobs they occupied while DPA 
was in the ruling coalition from 2006-2008.  To us, Selmani rejected 
any suggestion that he planned to join the VMRO-led government. He 
claimed this would lose him supporters. 
 
¶8. (SBU) On Sept. 11, a relaxed and cheerfully defiant Thaci 
repeated his press line to us: the defections are a Gruevski plot, 
and Selmani will be offered a place in the government.  He mocked 
Selmani and his followers for having no solid political base and no 
political philosophy apart from his, thus they "don't dare remain in 
opposition."  DPA activists defecting to Selmani were people Thaci 
planned to fire anyway for poor performance.  Thaci flatly denied 
that he or anyone close to him was threatening the defectors, and 
said he would fire anyone who was doing so.  (We pressed him hard on 
this.)  He pledged that those filling senior party posts vacated by 
Selmani and Matoshi will be replaced in a "bottom up" democratic 
fashion. 
 
¶9. (SBU) Comment: We told Selmani that we are not taking sides as 
his new party takes shape, but that any new party based on values 
and ideas -- and which rejects violence -- is a welcome development. 
 Selmani is young and ambitious, and he and Rushiti represented -- 
at least publicly -- the part of DPA more interested in this 
approach.  It is far too early to tell whether this is the end of 
DPA and the beginning of a new era in e-Albanian politics in 
Macedonia.  This may be a welcome development, but for now, our 
priority is to send a clear message to both sides that this divorce 
must be a peaceful one.  End comment. 
 
NAVRATIL