US embassy cable - 05PARIS3456

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 003456 
 
SIPDIS 
 
FROM USMISSION UNESCO PARIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SCUL, PGOV, YI, SR, UNESCO 
SUBJECT: USUNESCO:  May 13 UNESCO Conference of Donors for 
the Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage in 
Kosovo 
 
Ref: STATE 88192 (notal) 
 
1. Summary:   During the Conference of Donors for the 
Protection and Preservation of Cultural Heritage in Kosovo 
organized by UNESCO, donors pledged US$10 million, including 
U.S. $1 million from the United States, for the restoration, 
protection and enhancement of Christian and Islamic 
monuments and traditional secular buildings in Kosovo.  End 
Summary 
 
2. The May 13 donors conference, organized by UNESCO in 
collaboration with the United Nations Interim Administration 
Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), the Council of Europe and the 
European Commission, brought together over 50 Member States 
and 15 foundations and nongovernmental organizations. Donors 
pledged a total of $10 million for the restoration, 
protection and enhancement of Christian and Islamic 
monuments and traditional secular buildings in Kosovo that 
were damaged or in need of emergency restoration. The main 
donors -- besides the European Commission, which had already 
allotted Euros 2 million, and the Provisional Institutions 
of Self Government of Kosovo, which already allotted Euros 
5.7 million -- were: the Czech Republic, France, Germany, 
Greece, Hungary, Italy, Sweden, Turkey and the United 
States.  Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Netherlands 
and Portugal, as well as three NGOs, pledged technical 
assistance. Other UNESCO members expressed their intention 
to contribute financially after they have studied the 
proposals contained in the working document provided to them 
and whose quality they praised.  Louise Oliver, the U.S. 
Ambassador to UNESCO,  announced a pledge of $1 Million on 
behalf of the U.S. government. 
 
3. Ambassador Oliver delivered talking points (reftel) and 
added: "This pledge represents a large increase in U.S. 
assistance and reflects our continued commitment to cultural 
preservation in Kosovo.  Since 2000, the U.S. Mission in 
Pristina has contributed nearly $100,000 to various cultural 
projects, including monument preservation, restoration of 
historic manuscripts, and a joint project with Kosovo's 
Ministry of Culture to develop an inventory system for the 
management of cultural heritage sites." 
 
4. Participants agreed on the need to consider Kosovo's 
cultural heritage as a whole and not to fund its 
conservation on the basis of religious or ethnic criteria. 
To this end, the Director-General of UNESCO suggested that 
UNESCO -- in close cooperation with the Council of Europe, 
the European Commission, UNMIK and representatives of the 
member states concerned -- develop an action plan mapping 
out priorities and measures for the protection and 
restoration of Kosovar cultural heritage.  The DG also 
announced that following the recent cooperation agreement 
between Kosovo Provisional Institutions and the Serbian 
Orthodox Church, the European Agency for Reconstruction will 
begin spending the Euros 2 million earmarked last autumn for 
the restoration of churches damaged or destroyed during the 
violence of March 2004. 
 
5. Attending the meeting were Vuk Draskovic, Foreign 
Minister Affairs of Serbia and Montenegro; Blendi Klosi, 
Albanian Minister of Culture, Youth, and Sports for Albania; 
Petko Draganoov, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of 
Bulgaria; Soren Jessen-Petersen, Special Representative of 
the UN Secretary General and Head of the UN Interim 
Administration Mission in Kosovo; Gabriella Battani-Dragoni, 
of the Council of Europe; Fabrizi Barbasa, Acting Director 
General for Enlargement, of the European Commission; 
Koichiro Matsuura, the Director General of UNESCO; and Goran 
Svilanovic, former Foreign Minister of Serbia and Chair of 
the Stability Pact. 
 
6. Controversy in the conference room:  After lunch the 
Ambassador for Serbia-Montenegro expressed outrage at the 
distribution of a brochure that "rewrote" history, 
attributing Serbian-built monuments to Albanian culture. 
The document was not officially distributed by any 
delegation, but was quickly associated with a member of the 
UNMIK delegation, Astrit Haraqija, the Minister of Culture 
of Kosovo.  Apparently, the document was prepared in Kosovo 
for this conference.  The Minister had not informed his 
delegation, nor anyone else of the 20 copies of the brochure 
that he had brought.  Mr. Soren Jessen-Petersen took the 
floor to say he was sorry for the distribution of the 
document which he retracted and asked to recuperate all 
copies (they managed to recuperate 13 copies). 
 
7. After a press conference held at UNESCO the same day, a 
Swiss journalist approached Ambassador Oliver to express 
surprise in the US financial support of cultural heritage. 
When asked to comment further, the Ambassador referred the 
journalist to her statement:  "The preservation of cultural 
heritage is something all our countries and organizations 
can and should support," while emphasizing that the U.S. 
views the preservation of cultural heritage as a priority. 
 
8.  Comment:  This Swiss journalist's remark points out the 
U.S. can really gain points when its involvement in cultural 
preservation is made public, and UNESCO is the perfect place 
to showcase US bilateral initiatives in this area.   We 
would appreciate assistance in identifying and promoting 
other relevant and timely USG programs and initiatives in 
this area. 
 
OLIVER