VZCZCXRO1633
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHTI #0216/01 0971358
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 071358Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY TIRANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8019
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUWDQAC/COMDT COGARD WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/US CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION WASHINGTON DC
RHMFIUU/USCBP WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TIRANA 000216 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: MARR PGOV KSTC KNNP AL
SUBJECT:  INTERAGENCY MARITIME OPERATIONS STILL STALLED 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  To accomplish the Albanian Navy's dual role as 
Coast Guard, current Albanian law calls for the establishment of an 
Inter-Institutional Maritime Operations Center (IMOC) to coordinate 
maritime protection and law enforcement between the Ministries of 
Defense (MoD) and Interior (MoI) and the Customs Agency.  While it 
was intended to turn the Navy Operation Center in Plepa, Durres into 
the IMOC, to date, only the Navy currently staffs and uses the Plepa 
facility, and no Memorandum of Agreement (MoA) exists between the 
agencies to delineate command a control, responsibilities and 
authorities for the IMOC.  Furthermore, the Law on the Coast Guard 
is unclear and contradictory on the division of labor.  The MoD and 
MoI have each submitted their own versions of a draft Council of 
Ministers Decision to rectify the problem.  However neither draft 
has seen any movement in the Council of Ministers.  The 
international community is working on an initiative to move this 
issue forward. End Summary. 
 
ONE NAVY, TWO MISSIONS 
---------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) After the 1997 collapse of the Albanian Government, in 2002 
the GOA reestablished its Navy (reftel).  For lack of resources, 
instead of establishing a separate coast guard, the 2002 Law on the 
Coast Guard gave the Navy the secondary role and mission of Coast 
Guard.  But subsequently, according to the Ohrid Process agreements 
Albania signed in 2003, Albania agreed that its border enforcement 
would be under civilian control.  This is also a requirement for 
Albania's possible future accession to the European Union.  How to 
ensure that the Navy's Coast Guard responsibilities are conducted 
under civilian control has been unresolved to date.  A further 
complication has been how to coordinate the Navy's Coast Guard 
duties with the Border Police and with Customs. 
 
IMOC ESTABLISHED, BUT STILL NOT STAFFED 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (U) To this end, in 2007, the GoA passed an amendment to the Law 
on the Coast Guard to require the establishment of an 
Inter-institutional Maritime Operation Center (IMOC) collocated with 
the Naval Brigade Headquarters Navy Operations Center in Plepa, 
Durres.  The goal was to staff the IMOC with MoD and MoI officers 
who would coordinate the use of Navy assets during law-enforcement 
responsibilities.  In theory, through radio and radar, the IMOC 
would monitor a real-time picture of the entire coast and the Navy 
would conduct patrols also.  When a law enforcement case was 
encountered (e.g. smuggling), a Border Police officer on board the 
Navy patrol take operational control of the case. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Reality has been quite different.  In 2008, the Albanian 
Navy conducted very few patrols due to mismanagement of the 
procurement of fuel.  The only patrols were conducted by the Italian 
Guarda di Finanza based in Durres.  Furthermore, until this year, 
the only radar image of Albania's coast has been from Italian 
radars.  Although Italy has agreed to share these images, 
implementation of this agreement has allegedly been sporadic. 
Lockheed Martin has completed installation of an indigenous Albanian 
radar, which would feed in to the IMOC, and officially turned 
control of this system over to the GOA on March 18, 2009.  With 
accession into NATO, Albania has plans to be linked to an 
air-and-sea surveillance picture from neighboring Greek systems. 
 
¶5. (U) To date, only the Navy staffs and uses its operations center 
at Prespa, Durres due to unclear/differing ideas on how the IMOC 
will be used (purpose and scope, chains of command and lack of 
inter-institutional agreements).  The Navy wants to retain 
operational control of the IMOC but this conflicts with the need for 
maritime law enforcement to be under civilian control.  The MOI has 
submitted a proposal to be the controller of IMOC to establish 
civilian control, but the MOD is unlikely to support this proposal. 
The MOD is planning to designate  work spaces at Plepa for other 
agencies, but it is doubtful other agencies will send staff until 
disagreements have been resolved.  Further, the MOD is currently 
considering relocating the Navy's Durres Operation Center to its 
Joint Operations Center in Tirana, which may increase the obstacles 
of involving other agencies because of NATO and national military 
prohibitions. 
 
LEGAL INSUFFICIENCIES 
--------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) All admit that the current Law on the Coast Guard is 
insufficient to resolve the division of labor and, in some places, 
contradictory.  To resolve this, in 2008, both the Ministry of 
Defense and the Ministry of Interior have submitted competing draft 
decisions to the Council of Ministers (the highest executive body of 
the GOA).  As could be expected, each draft gives its authors 
 
TIRANA 00000216  002 OF 002 
 
 
command of the IMOC.  To date, there has been no movement in the 
Council of Ministers on either draft, and there seems little 
appetite at high levels to focus on this problem among myriad others 
in the run up to national elections on June 28. 
 
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE 
---------------------- 
 
¶7. (U) Representatives of several international assistance programs, 
including the OSCE, the EU's law enforcement assistance program, 
ICITAP, EXBS, Post's ODC office and others have formed a working 
group to try to resolve this impasse.  The group has focused on 
merging the two proposed draft decisions into one workable law that 
can rectify the inadequacies of the current laws.  Over the last 
several months, the group has worked on several drafts and is now 
ready to submit this draft to the GOA this week as a recommended 
way-forward.  It is unknown if the GOA will give any this issue any 
attention.  It has also been proposed that rather than merge the 
various proposals, it may be more useful to take as a model other EU 
countries with similar systems, such as the Dutch and to develop a 
new law based on that model.  The working group is currently 
brain-storming other actions to prod movement on the ground towards 
an active IMOC role.