US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU1614

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 KATHMANDU 001614 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OPRC, PGOV, PREL, KMDR, NP 
SUBJECT: WEEKLY NEPAL MEDIA REPORT: AUGUST 
19 TO 25, 2003 
 
 
 - STATE FOR NP, AC, PM 
 - STATE FOR IN/R/MR 
 - STATE FOR SA/INS, PM/CBM, PM/PRO 
 - STATE FOR SA/PPD 
 
1.  PEACE TALKS 
 
 -- Dr. Bhattarai for no less than 
constituent assembly: The Maoists warned 
(8/24) the government that the ongoing talks 
would cease automatically if the latter 
declined to come up with its revised agenda 
by Tuesday and accept the Maoist condition 
for unconditional constituent assembly 
elections.  "We do not see any possibility 
on our part to compromise on our demand for 
constituent assembly elections as it is the 
only way to fulfill the people's 
requirements and address the present 
political imbalance," said Bhattarai in his 
statement.  "The government's attempt to 
institutionalize the feudal monarchy and the 
authoritarianism of the royal army and give 
continuity to them through the backing of 
foreign forces is the main cause for the 
present obstacle in the process," said 
Bhattarai. (Centrist "Kathmandu Post," E/D, 
8/25) 
 
 -- September 4 would be historic: Leaders: 
Leaders of five agitating political parties 
said (8/24) a protest program on September 
4, centralized in Kathmandu, would compel 
the king to hand over sovereign power to the 
people.  The September 4 agitation would be 
historic, they said, with protestors moving 
towards the Royal Palace and also initiating 
a gherao (surrounding) of the Singha Durbar 
[Parliament building], affecting life and 
paralyzing the whole capital city. (Pro- 
India "Himalayan Times," E/D, 8/25) 
 
 -- Back to war: "King in London  Maoists in 
jungle  C.P. [C.P. Gajurel, senior Maoist 
leader recently arrested in India for 
possessing fake passport] in jail  Fourth 
round of talks not to take place  Country 
again heading toward civil war." (Headlines 
in centrist "Tarun," V/W, 8/25) 
 
 -- No further talks if no constituent 
assembly: Maoists: The government is 
preparing for either to hold the 
constituency elections or rewrite the 
constitution.  The Maoists have adamantly 
said that the talks will not continue if the 
constituent assembly is not agreed. (Leftist 
"Sanghu," V/W, 8/25) 
-- Maoists' rigid stance ploy to usurp 
power: Lohani: Finance Minister and chief 
government negotiator for the ongoing peace 
talks, Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani, said 
(8/23) that the rigid stance of the Maoists 
for constituent assembly election was merely 
an attempt to control state power. (Media 
reports, 8/24) 
 
 -- Ceasefire will hold: Prachanda: The 
Maoists will in no way back off from the 
ceasefire, Maoist top leader Prachanda said. 
 ("The Himalayan Times," 8/24) 
 
  -- "Go to Kathmandu, save democracy": Five 
political parties are set to launch a 
decisive movement from September 4, with a 
strength show of around 6 to 7 hundred 
thousand people in Kathmandu, which will 
bring life to a standstill in the capital. 
The UML alone is set to mobilize around one 
hundred thousand people. (Centrist 
"Deshantar," V/W and leftist "Chhalphal," 
V/W, 8/24) 
 
 -- Prachanda appeals for Gajurel's release: 
Maoist President Prachanda has appealed to 
the Indian government for release of its 
politburo member C.P. Gajurel, who was 
arrested by the Indian security personnel at 
Chennai Airport in India on August 20 [for 
possessing fake passport.]  "The release of 
Gajurel would not only prove the Indian 
government's will for maintaining peace in 
Nepal but also give a new shape to our 
diplomatic relations," the Maoist leader 
said in his statement. (Media reports, 8/24) 
 
 -- U.S. hails third round of talks: The U 
.S. 
government has welcomed the third round of 
talks between the Nepalese government and 
the Maoist insurgents.  A press statement 
issued by the U.S. Embassy said that the 
political proposals advanced by the 
government of Nepal during the third round 
of talks with the Maoists directly address a 
number of the Maoists' proclaimed socio- 
economic concerns and thus offer a realistic 
vehicle for productive discussions between 
the government and the Maoists.  The Embassy 
called on the Maoists to abide by the 
ceasefire and urged both sides to respect 
the code of conduct and to remain engaged in 
the all-important process of forging in good 
faith a peaceful solution of this conflict. 
(Government-owned "Rising Nepal," E/D, 8/23) 
 
 -- Demand for constituent assembly 
"unjustified": Chief government negotiator 
Dr. Prakash Chandra Lohani said (8/22) the 
Maoists' demand for a constituent assembly 
elections was unjustified and also made it 
clear that the government still wanted 
amendment to the present constitution, or 
rewrite a new one based on it.  One of the 
facilitators of the ongoing government- 
Maoist talks, Padma Ratna Tuladhar, said the 
dialogue is very likely to break in the 
fourth round if both sides stuck to their 
respective stances as in the third round of 
talks. ("The Kathmandu Post" and others, 
8/23) 
 
 -- Government, Maoist peace talks on 
deathbed: The third round of government- 
Maoist peace negotiation today (8/19) ended 
inconclusively after the Maoists insisted 
that the government should accept their 
demand for constituent assembly. ("The 
Kathmandu Post" and centrist "Kantipur," 
V/D, 8/20) 
 
 -- Talks waste of time: "The third round of 
talks is just a waste of time.  Eventually, 
the war has been invited." (Centrist 
"Ghatana Ra Bichar," V/D, 8/20) 
 
 -- Government, Maoists agree six-point talks 
agenda: The government and the Maoists 
agreed (8/18) on a six-point agenda to move 
forward with the ongoing third round of 
talks and decided to start discussions on 
the political agenda from Tuesday.  The six 
points mutually agreed upon today include 
political issues, overall socio-economic 
reforms, procedures of the reforms, 
settlement of the armed forces and weapons, 
rehabilitation of the affected people and 
reconstruction of Maoist-hit development 
infrastructure, and miscellany.  Despite the 
Maoists' strong criticism of the 
government's political agenda, both parties 
have agreed to go ahead with the peace 
process. (Media reports, 8/19) 
 
 -- International community lauds Government 
proposal: The international community has 
welcomed the government proposal placed 
during the third round of negotiations with 
the Maoists as a positive step forward 
towards finding peaceful resolution of the 
seven-year old conflict.  The strongest 
endorsement of the government stand came 
from the United States, which has expressed 
full "agreement" with the three main points 
placed forth by the government.  Speaking to 
the "Kathmandu Post" and "Kantipur," 
Constance Colding Jones, Public Affairs 
Officer of the U.S. Embassy in Kathmandu, 
said, "We are in full agreement with the 
three main points -- sovereignty of the 
people, multi-party democracy and 
constitutional monarchy -- on which the 
government has reiterated its commitment." 
Similarly, the British government has 
"warmly welcomed both the new round of 
negotiations and the presentation of a 
comprehensive position by the Nepalese 
government".  India's Ambassador to Nepal 
Shyam Saran said, "Now there is a document 
which could form the basis for future 
understanding between the two sides."   He 
added that this could help in removing the 
uncertainty of the past. (Compiled from the 
"Kathmandu Post" and "Kantipur," 8/19) 
 
 -- Thapa expresses displeasure over Maoist 
comments: Minister for Information and 
Communications and member of the Government 
negotiating team Kamal Thapa has expressed 
displeasure ov 
er negative remarks made by 
top Maoist leaders over the government's 
response.  Thapa said, "I am surprised.  I 
feel that the Maoists reaction is born out 
of the feelings that negative statements 
should be made of government proposal as 
soon as it was delivered to them.  We were 
hopeful that the Maoists would study the 
proposal in detail before commenting on it. 
But they have commented on the proposal 
solely on the basis of going through it once 
as we read it out to them during the first 
session of talks."  (Kantipuronline.com, 
8/19) 
 
- -  Agi cation  woul d  uproot  regress ive  force s : 
 Nepal :  Madhav  Kumar  Nepal ,  genera 1  secretary 
 of the CPN-UML said that the political 
 agenda presented by the government during 
 the third round of government-Maoist peace 
 negotiation would in no way resolve the 
 current political stalemate.  Nepal said, 
 "The political agenda does neither address 
 the issues raised by the agitating political 
 parties nor the Maoists'."  "If the Maoists 
 are for fundamental change, whether it is to 
establish republican state, they should join 
our joint movement against regression," 
Nepal said.  He asserted that the political 
parties would continue with their joint 
agitation against regression until the 
regressive forces would be completely 
uprooted.  He also accused both the king and 
the Maoists of trying to destroy democracy. 
 ("Kantipur," 8/19) 
 
2.  SECURITY FORCE, MAOISTS CLASHES 
 
 -- 17 Maoists killed: Seventeen Maoists were 
killed in clashes between the security 
forces and the Maoists in Ramechap district 
in northeast Nepal Sunday (8/17) evening. 
 ("The Rising Nepal," 8/19) 
 
 -- Maoists declare UML enemy: It is revealed 
that the Maoists had declared the UML their 
enemy.  "The UML is our enemy, we should 
intensify counter resistance against it and 
act accordingly against its leaders from 
district to central level," Prachanda is 
found  quoted  in  the  party ' s  direct ives .    UML 
general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, after 
seeing a copy of the directives, has 
expressed serious objection and warned the 
Maoi sts  to  apologi ze  in  publ ic .  ( Centri st 
"Spacetime Dainik," V/D, 8/19) 
3.  MAOIST ACTIVITIES 
 -- Maoists call strike to protest army 
excesses: The Maoists today (8/21) called a 
one-day general strike to protest the army's 
k i 1 1 ing  of  at  1 east  17  of  their  cadres ,  an 
i nc ident  that  scutt 1 ed  key  peace  ta lks  th i s 
week and raised fears a six-month truce 
could collapse.  The Maoists called the 
strike for August 27 across eastern Nepal. 
 ("The Himalayan Times," 8/22) 
-- Maoist's extortion: The Maoists have 
begun money extortion from leaders and 
cadres of five agitating parties, especially 
from Nepali Congress and UML.  The extortion 
terror is extreme in hilly districts, where 
the five parties' movement is strong.  The 
ceasefire code of conduct signed by the 
Maoists with the government prohibits the 
rebels from extorting money. ("Kantipur," 
8/22) 
 
4.  STUDENT UNREST 
 
 -- ANNISU (R) threatens of agitation: ANNISU 
(Revolutionary), the Maoists' student wing 
Sunday issued a threat of launching "long 
and decisive" educational agitation starting 
September 7, if the government does not 
fulfill its 16-point demands. (Media 
reports, 8/26) 
 
5.  BUSINESS/ECONOMY 
 
 -- China allows 14 flights a week: The 
Chinese government has agreed to allow the 
Royal Nepal Airlines to increase its flights 
to China to 14 a week and also start 
operating in the Tibet Autonomous Region of 
China. ("The Himalayan Times," 8/24) 
West Seti Project: The Australia-based power 
developer Snowy Mountain Engineering 
Corporation (SMEC) has strongly denied media 
reports that it had abandoned the 750 MW 
West Seti hydropower project in the Far 
Western Region in Nepal.  The project, with 
investment of US$ 860 million, will be the 
largest single foreign investment in Nepal. 
 ("The Kathmandu Post," 8/23) 
 
 
 -- Vegetable oil export to be simplified: 
The three-day Nepal-India Inter-Governmental 
Committee meet ended Wednesday with India 
agreeing to adopt a new arrangement for the 
import of Nepali vegetable cooking oil into 
India after a discussion with Nepali 
manufacturers (Media reports, 8/21) 
 
 -- Nepal, India power talks begin: Nepali 
and Indian officials Wednesday commenced 
talks on exporting Nepal's electricity to 
India, a report said Thursday.  With the 
completion of 144 MW Kali Gandaki "A" power 
project, Nepal is currently in a position to 
export up to 80 MW electricity during the 
monsoon and 30 MW during dry season. 
 ("Kantipur" and others, 8/21) 
 
6.  OTHERS 
 
 -- Lured with the bait of Gulf jobs, young 
girls land up in Indian brothels: Anti- 
trafficking campaigners say they have 
uncovered a ring of human traffickers who 
lure innocent Nepali women by promising them 
lucrative jobs in Gulf countries.  Such 
women are lured on the basis of forged 
documents but are mostly sold to Indian 
brothels, they add. ("The Kathmandu Post," 
8/25) 
 
 -- Pakistan Embassy staffer asked to leave: 
The  Pak istan  Embassy  of ficia 1 ,  Masood  al ia s 
Mustafa, who was allegedly found carrying 
"counterfeit Indian currency" has been asked 
to leave the country following an 
understanding reached between the Nepali and 
Pakistani authorities, government sources 
revealed today. ("The Kathmandu Post," 8/24) 
 
 -- 216 died of flood, landslide: Home 
Mi ni stry :  Flood  and  lands 1 ide  th i s  year  ha s 
killed altogether 216 people, so far.  In 
addition, 52 are missing and 85 were 
injured, Home Ministry said 
Wednesday. (Nepalnews.com, 8/21) 
 
MALINOWSKI