VZCZCXRO3725
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK
RUEHYG
DE RUEHPS #0378/01 2401713
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 281713Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY PRISTINA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 9243
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 1199
RUFOADA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 1720
RHFMIUU/AFSOUTH NAPLES IT
RHMFISS/CDR TF FALCON
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC
RUEPGEA/CDR650THMIGP SHAPE BE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUZEJAA/USNIC PRISTINA SR

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PRISTINA 000378 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE, EUR/PGI, INL, DRL, PRM, USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KV
SUBJECT: KOSOVO:  KP PARAMILITARY POLICE SENT NORTH 
 
REF: Pristina 362 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED - PLEASE PROTECT ACCORDINGLY. 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary:  A standoff between ethnic Albanians and ethnic 
Serbs in Mitrovica over the reconstruction of several Albanian 
houses destroyed in the war escalated Thursday evening when Prime 
Minister Thaci ordered Kosovo paramilitary police (ROSU) to 
Mitrovica to protect Albanian construction workers.  EULEX responded 
by sending 100 of its riot police (FPU) to three bridges to prevent 
the ROSU from crossing the Ibar into the majority Serb area of 
northern Mitrovica.  A clash was averted when the Ambassador reached 
Prime Minister Thaci and asked him to call back the ROSU units. 
This is the latest incident in a week of rising tension between the 
GOK and EULEX, which has included local rejection of an EULEX-Serbia 
police cooperation protocol and two incidents of mass vandalism 
against EULEX vehicles.  In meetings with internationals and GOK 
officials, the Ambassador urged all sides to avoid confrontation and 
to refrain from any additional inflammatory statements that might 
further complicate resolving GOK-EULEX issues.  End Summary. 
 
GOK ANGERED BY ACTION IN MITROVICA 
---------------------------------- 
¶2. (SBU) Following an August 27 meeting between International 
Civilian Representative Pieter Feith, EULEX Head of Mission Yves de 
Kermabon and top Kosovo leadership, President Fatmir Sejdiu and 
Prime Minister Hashim Thaci issued a statement in which they called 
discussion of an EULEX-Serbia police cooperation protocol "dead." 
They cited as rationale for their decision intervention August 26 by 
(ethnic Serb) Kosovo Police, backed by EULEX, in the Kroi i Vitakut 
section of northern Mitrovica that kept some ethnic Albanian 
returnees from conducting reconstruction work. 
 
PM SENDS SPECIAL POLICE NORTH 
----------------------------- 
¶3. (SBU) Hours after this decision was announced, we received 
reports that the Prime Minister had ordered 25 members of the 
paramilitary police (ROSU) to northern Mitrovica to protect the 
Albanian returnees who were engaged in reconstruction work.  EULEX 
subsequently sent two Formed Police Units (FPU, anti-riot police), 
consisting of 100 French, Italian, Romanian, and Polish officers, to 
the three bridges across the River Ibar to prevent the ROSU from 
crossing.  The FPU commander was able to convince the ROSU commander 
to stand down, and, at around 8 p.m., the ROSU pulled back to a 
police station in southern Mitrovica.  Responding to a call from the 
Ambassador, Prime Minister Thaci called the ROSU back to Pristina. 
As of Friday morning, Albanian construction workers were at the 
building site, but no work had begun.  There were no reports of 
violence on Friday. 
 
A DANGEROUS END TO A BAD WEEK FOR EULEX 
--------------------------------------- 
¶4. (SBU) This standoff was just the latest bad news in a difficult 
week for EULEX.  On August 25, members of Albin Kurti's Vetevendosje 
("Self Determination") Movement vandalized 28 parked, unoccupied 
EULEX vehicles, in an action which they claimed was a protest 
against the unpopular EULEX-Serbia police cooperation protocol. 
Twenty-two Vetevendosje activists were arrested at the scene, with 
21 subsequently remanded for 30 days of investigative detention. 
The evening of August 26, unknown assailants slashed the tires of an 
additional 13 EULEX vehicles in the Dragodan neighborhood of the 
capital, Pristina. 
 
AMBASSADOR URGES COOLING OFF PERIOD 
----------------------------------- 
¶5. (SBU) During and after these incidents, the Ambassador has urged 
calm.  In two August 27 phone conversations and again in an August 
28 meeting with Prime Minister Thaci, they agreed that confrontation 
between Kosovo Police and EULEX would serve nobody, and a 
several-day cooling off period was called for.  At an August 27 
Quint, the Ambassador also urged the Europeans to refrain from 
statements or actions that might further ratchet up political 
tensions, most notably a decision to sign the police protocol 
despite GOK objections.  Following this cooling off period, Thaci 
 
PRISTINA 00000378  002 OF 002 
 
 
agreed to meet the Ambassador and ICR Pieter Feith to discuss 
modalities for cooperation in police and customs between Kosovo, 
EULEX, and Serbia.  This meeting should take place late next week 
after Feith returns from consultations in Brussels. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
¶6. (SBU) The decision to send ROSU forces north represented a 
dangerous escalation in tensions between the GOK and EULEX.  We were 
fortunate that Prime Minister Thaci recalled the ROSU forces, and 
that the incident did not end in a violent police-on-police 
confrontation.  We are also fortunate that the Europeans have thus 
far, also refrained from escalating the issue, though there are some 
within EULEX who want to do so by moving forward with the police 
protocol regardless.  We will continue to urge all sides to put 
aside the issue of EULEX-Serbia police cooperation for several days, 
in the hopes that calm can increase the political space necessary 
for Kosovo leaders and EULEX to maneuver. 
 
DELL