US embassy cable - 03ZAGREB1797

C O N F I D E N T I A L  ZAGREB 001797 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE-MNARDI 
DOD/OSD FOR SHOEMAKER 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/13/2008 
TAGS: PREL, MARR, BH, HR, NATO 
SUBJECT: CROATIA CONDITIONALLY READY TO SUPPORT NEUM SHIP 
VISIT 
 
REF: NARDI/MOON E-MAIL 8/8/03 
 
Classified By: POLOFF JUSTIN FRIEDMAN FOR REASONS 1.5 B & D 
 
1. (U) See action request for Embassy Sarajevo para 9. 
 
2. (C) SUMMARY:  We provided the MFA and MoD with a non-paper 
(text para 10) outlining our request for support for the 
visit of a U.S. military vessel to the BiH port of Neum.  The 
MFA believes legal issues will need to be worked through 
before there is a formal OK, but appeared to be predisposed 
to cooperate.  Overall, Croatia understands the importance of 
supporting the visit, and the MOD appears ready to take the 
lead to make the visit a success.  The Croatians will want 
the GoBiH to send a Dipnote requesting cooperation to execute 
the visit. 
 
3. (C) The Embassy will need to provide the MoD with a 
detailed, written request for support, as is standard for 
ship visits to Croatia, according to our MoD contacts, in 
order for the GoC to say we have met the requirements of 
Croatian law.  The GoC wants to take the lead in announcing 
its support for the visit to manage any possible political 
impact on the upcoming November parliamentary elections.  The 
MoD would also like to arrange a formal protocol meeting for 
Deputy Defense Minister Zlatko Gareljic and Navy Commander 
Rear Admiral Zdravko Kardum with Admiral Johnson at an 
appropriate time during the Admiral,s visit to the region. 
END SUMMARY. 
 
4. (C) POLITICAL IMPORTANCE: On August 12, Poloff and Navy 
Attache delivered a non-paper (para 8) to the MFA and MoD 
outlining our request for support for the visit of a U.S. 
military vessel in late September to the BiH port of Neum. 
We met separately with MFA Acting Director of the North 
America Desk Andrea Bekic and Assistant Minister of Defense 
Jelena Grcic-Polic.  Both interlocutors recognized the 
political importance of the visit for regional cooperation. 
We stressed that Croatia needed this visit to be a success 
for our bilateral relationship as well, given recent 
disappointments of Croatia,s position on the war in Iraq and 
Article 98. 
 
5. (C) PUBLIC RELATIONS: Grcic-Polic and Bekic cautioned that 
the visit would be very politically sensitive within Croatia 
given upcoming parliamentary elections (November 23rd). 
Grcic-Polic noted that different timing for a visit could 
ease PR concerns, but she understood our need to have this 
visit now.  Grcic-Polic suggested that Croatia take the lead 
in announcing support well ahead of the visit as part of its 
efforts to improve regional cooperation.  We stated our 
willingness to work with the GoC to manage any public 
announcements, emphasizing our need to hold back on 
announcing a specific date for force protection reasons. 
 
6. (C) LEGAL CONCERNS: MFA,s Bekic cautioned that this was a 
new situation for Croatia and that we would need to work 
within Croatian law.  She was particularly concerned about 
the precedent our visit would set for other foreign military 
vessels making passage through Croatian territorial waters to 
reach the Bosnian port.  Navy Attache stressed our position 
that the U.S. was not obligated under the Law of the Sea to 
provide advance notice of our vessel,s passage, but given 
that we would need to procure considerable Croatian 
logistical support and yet to be fully defined security 
support, we wanted to work together to ensure that Croatian 
legal concerns are not an impediment to a good visit. 
 
7. (C) Assistant Minister of Defense Grcic-Polic echoed 
Bekic,s concerns, but offered work-arounds.  She said that a 
Dipnote from the GoBiH requesting security and logistic 
assistance would be helpful to cast the visit in terms of 
regional cooperation.  She said she would also want the 
standard fax or an informal note from the Embassy detailing 
our requests for assistance; such a document could be 
"craftily" considered as meeting Croatian legal requirements. 
 She said the MoD was willing and prepared to support the 
visit and wanted to work out the details well in advance. 
Once we outlined our requests, she would stand up an 
interagency task force (Ministry of Defense, Ministy of the 
Interior - Police and Ministry of Transportation) to address 
our support needs. 
 
8. (C) INVITATION FOR ADMIRAL JOHNSON: Grcic-Polic said that 
 
 
Deputy Defense Minister Zlatko Gareljic would be in charge of 
Croatia,s support effort since Minister Antunovic would be 
in China at the end of September.  She asked for a formal 
meeting for the Deputy Minister and the Chief of the Navy, 
Rear Admiral Zdravko Kardum, with Admiral Johnson at an 
appropriate time during the ship visit.  Navy Attache 
suggested that the proposed meeting in Split at the end of 
the visit might best serve protocol needs, depending on the 
Admiral's scheduled arrival and departure. 
 
9. (C) COMMENT and ACTION REQUEST: Grcic-Polic has offered us 
a good work-around on legal issues for the visit.  We 
understand that the GoBiH was making formal contact with the 
GoC simultaneous with our calls on the Croats.  Post suggests 
that Embassy Sarajevo check with the GoBiH to determine 
whether the kind of note Grcic-Polic suggested is possible. 
We will continue our work with the MoD and MFA to provide the 
Croatians our detailed support needs. 
 
10. (C) BEGIN NON-PAPER TEXT: 
 
The BiH State Presidency has invited the United States Navy 
to conduct the first-ever friendly ship visit to Neum, 
Bosnia-Herzegovina. This visit is projected to occur in late 
Sep 2003. 
 
In the spirit of regional cooperation, the United States 
Government seeks the assistance to of the Government of 
Croatia in provision of security and logistic support 
critical for the success of this historic visit. 
 
The United States Navy seeks the assistance of the Croatian 
Ministry of Defense and Ministry of the Interior to provide 
force protection at sea and on the landward approaches to 
Neum. If provided, the United States Navy can abide by agreed 
upon force protection measures for its ships while sailing in 
Croatian waters. Standard compensation can be provided to the 
Ministry of the Interior for services rendered. The 
Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina and United States Navy 
will be responsible for force protection once the ship enters 
BiH waters. 
 
The United States Navy plans to engage Croatian-based 
husbanding agents to provide logistic support for the ship. 
We intend to use Croatian personnel (pilots, agents, etc.) 
and maritime resources (tugs, lighters, barges, etc.) drawn 
from Ploce, Croatia to support this visit due to the lack of 
adequate maritime infrastructure at Neum. 
 
We anticipate the need to utilize Croatian airports (Split 
and/or Dubrovnik) and roadways to facilitate the movement of 
personnel (including VIPs) and supplies to and from Neum, in 
the case of a medical evacuation, and to conduct tours to 
Croatia. These movements will require your cooperation in 
expediting border crossings. 
 
The current Croatian Maritime Code is silent on the 
possibility of freedom of transit by international traffic to 
Neum.  Based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and 
customary international law, diplomatic notification is not 
required to conduct right of innocent passage within a 
states, territorial seas nor within base lines defining 
internal waters which deny access to other states, 
territorial seas, as contained in the current Maritime Code. 
In making these request we do not prejudice our rights under 
international law, but hope that our Governments can work 
together to make this historic visit a success for regional 
cooperation. 
 
END NON-PAPER TEXT. 
FRANK 
 
 
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