US embassy cable - 04KATHMANDU5

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KATHMANDU 000005 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/IP/NEA 
STATE ALSO PLEASE PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
STATE ALSO PLEASE PASS PEACE CORPS HQ 
USAID FOR ANE/AA GORDON WEST AND JIM BEVER 
MANILA FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
LONDON FOR POL/GURNEY 
TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL/DAUFHAUSER AND DAS JZARATE 
TREASURY ALSO FOR OFAC/RNEWCOMB AND TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST 
FINANCING 
JUSTICE FOR OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL/DLAUFMAN 
NSC FOR MILLARD 
SECDEF FOR OSD/ISA LILIENFELD 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS, PTER, CASC, PGOV, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, DECEMBER 20- 
JANUARY 2 
 
REFERENCE:  (A) KATHMANDU 2475 
            (B) KATHMANDU 1391 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1.  Thirteen security personnel and forty-two Maoists 
reportedly were killed in clashes this week.  Twenty 
security personnel and two civilians also suffered injuries. 
Maoist cadres reportedly killed five civilians, including a 
pregnant woman, and abducted nine others.  On December 25, 
the Special Court of Nepal again issued a summons for Maoist 
Supremo Prachanda, while on December 30 the Patan Appellate 
Court issued summons for five other senior Maoists.  Eighty- 
three insurgents reportedly surrendered throughout Nepal 
this week, despite Maoist Supremo Prachanda lambasting the 
Government of Nepal's (GON) "Surrender and Amnesty Policy" 
(Ref A) as "ridiculous and shameless." 
 
2.  Summary Continued.  The local press quoted senior 
government officials on December 23 as saying that India has 
never cooperated with Nepal on arrests of Maoists, declaring 
that Ambassador Saran was "uttering a white lie" when he 
publicly declared his government was committed to helping 
find the insurgents (Ref A).  Maoist cadres continue to form 
so-called Peoples' Governments in districts throughout 
Nepal.  Villagers defied Maoist orders not to attend GON 
sponsored programs in several districts.   Educational 
strikes called by the All Nepal National Independent 
Students' Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), the Maoist- 
affiliated student organization, have forced additional 
school closures, affecting over 15,000 students.  Maoists 
reportedly robbed several banks this week, and demanded 
ransom for detainees in their custody.  End Summary. 
 
DEATH TOLL KEEPS CLIMBING 
------------------------- 
 
3.  Thirteen security personnel reportedly were killed this 
week.  A New Year's Eve ambush in Dhanusa District, in the 
east, killed a police officer.  Later that same day in 
nearby Sarlahi District, three police officers were injured 
in a Maoist attack.  On December 30, three Royal Nepal Army 
(RNA) soldiers were killed in the southwestern district of 
Kapilvastu after Maoist rebels opened fire on their vehicle. 
An Armed Police Force (APF) officer was killed on December 
29 in Kailali District, in the far-western Terai, when a 
bomb planted on a bus by Maoists exploded during a security 
check.  Two civilians on the bus suffered injuries.  On 
December 26, four RNA soldiers died and eleven suffered 
injuries after their truck ran over a Maoist-planted 
landmine in Makwanpar District, south of Kathmandu. Three 
other soldiers were killed in Kaski District on December 24 
in separate incidents, and five security personnel sustained 
injuries in firefights.  Maoists reportedly attacked a 
police post in Kanchanpar District on December 22, killing 
one policeman and injuring another. 
 
4.  Security forces reportedly killed forty-two Maoists.  On 
December 29, three insurgents were killed in the eastern 
districts of Dhading and Rautahat, and three others on 
December 25 in the northeastern district of Dolakha.  On 
December 24, six rebels died in separate clashes in the 
eastern districts of Taplejung, Dhading and Therathum, and 
four insurgents in the western district of Salyan.  Eighteen 
Maoists reportedly were killed on December 23.  Five died in 
clashes in the neighboring western districts of Surkhet and 
Dailekh, and thirteen in the eastern districts of Morang, 
Taplejung and Dhankuta.  A battle on December 22 in the 
northeastern district of Solukhumbu left seven rebels dead, 
and a female Maoist commander was killed on December 20 in 
Udaypur District. 
 
MAOIST CADRES SURRENDER 
----------------------- 
 
5.  In response to the GON's recent announcement of its 
"Surrender and Amnesty Policy" (Ref A), Maoist Supremo 
Prachanda issued a statement on December 19 calling the 
policy "ridiculous and shameless."   Prachanda went on to 
declare that the invitation by the GON for Maoist cadres to 
surrender was a ploy to cover up the defeat of security 
forces. 
 
6.  Eighty-three insurgents reportedly surrendered 
throughout Nepal this week.  On December 26, sixty-two 
Maoists reportedly surrendered to security forces in Lamjung 
District, stating that they were dissatisfied with the 
violent and destructive activities of the Maoists.  On 
December 25, seven members of a Maoist sister organization 
in the eastern district of Khotang surrendered to officials 
in the District Administration Office.  Ten other insurgents 
surrendered on December 24, seven in the western district of 
Kalikot, and three others in the eastern district of 
Sindhuli.  On December 22, four Maoist cadres in Saptari 
District also surrendered. 
 
COURTS SUMMON MAOIST LEADERSHIP 
------------------------------- 
 
7.  On December 25, the Special Court of Nepal again issued 
a summons for Maoist Supremo Prachanda to appear and respond 
to charges filed by the Government of Nepal (GON), including 
the July 2000 attack on a police station in Sindhupalchowk 
District which left four policemen dead.  The Maoist leader 
has been ordered to appear in court within fifteen days of 
being served with the summons.  Police have been ordered to 
ensure that Prachanda receives the notice, but no current 
address has been supplied.  This is the second time that the 
court has issued the summons.  Police previously failed to 
serve the notice. 
 
8.  On December 30, the Patan Appellate Court ordered five 
senior Maoists to appear before the court within seven days. 
Top Bahadur Rayamajhi, Rabindra Shrestha, Bamdev Chhetri, 
Barsaman Pun, and Dilip Kumar Sijapati are accused of 
extortion and terrorist activities in cases filed against 
them under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act. 
 
GON CLAIMS INDIA "UTTERING A WHITE LIE" 
--------------------------------------- 
 
9.  GON officials reacted angrily to Indian Ambassador Shyam 
Saran's recent public statements that India would cooperate 
and arrest Maoists in India if the GON shared vital 
information on the Maoists' identities and whereabouts (Ref 
B). The local press quoted senior government officials as 
saying that India has never cooperated with Nepal and 
Ambassador Saran was "uttering a white lie."  Several 
unnamed GON and police officials were quoted as saying that 
they had provided advance information to the Government of 
India (GOI) on a number of Maoist meetings in India, 
including high-level central committee meetings in Gorakhpur 
in 2001 and Bihar in 2000 and the Revolutionary 
Internationalist Movement (RIM) meeting, which politburo 
members of the Maoists were said to have attended in July 
2003 (Ref B).  The GON reportedly requested raids on those 
meetings, but Indian authorities did not respond.  In 
response to those allegations, specifically with respect to 
the meeting in Gorakhpur, the First Secretary for Press, 
Information, and Culture at the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu 
told the local press "no information whatsoever was ever 
received." 
 
MAOISTS DECLARE PEOPLES' GOVERNMENT 
----------------------------------- 
 
10.  Maoist cadres continue to form so-called Peoples' 
Governments in some districts.  The insurgents reportedly 
have set up committees in the eastern districts of Udayapur, 
Panchthar, and Sarlahi, and also in the western district of 
Kapilvastu.  Maoist ideologue Baburam Bhattarai has declared 
repeatedly that the Maoists control eighty percent of Nepal. 
This claim has been denied vehemently by the GON, which 
insists that its forces can move into any area of the 
kingdom they wish. 
 
VILLAGERS DEFY MAOISTS 
---------------------- 
 
11.  In a rare show of force against the Maoists, local 
villagers in Bhojpur and Ilam retaliated against insurgents. 
On December 23, villagers in Bhojpur District severely beat 
a Maoist commander and a district vice-president of the All 
Nepal National Independent Students' Union-Revolutionary 
(ANNISU-R), who had been extorting money from them.  In the 
far eastern district of Ilam, locals reportedly have formed 
a committee to resist Maoist demands, and have requested 
that the local government supply them with sophisticated 
weapons.  Military officials reportedly said they would not 
provide weapons, but would provide weapons training. 
According to a December 31 press report, security forces 
already have supplied training and arms to locals in the 
eastern district of Sarlahi, who had previously fought 
successfully against Maoists attempting to abduct the son of 
a former Village Development Committee (VDC) member. 
Seventeen villagers reportedly received training, and ten 
were given guns.  Security officials denied that they have 
provided weapons to anyone. 
 
12.  Residents of Dolakha District, in the northeast, defied 
Maoists orders to attend a mobile camp sponsored by the 
government.  Attendees received medical check-ups, passport 
services, and citizenship papers.  The insurgents had issued 
an order banning locals from taking part in the program.  An 
estimated 10,000 people took part in a similar program on 
December 28 in the district of Bardiya, despite also being 
warned by area Maoists not to participate. 
 
ANNISU-R FORCES CLOSURE OF MORE SCHOOLS 
--------------------------------------- 
 
13.  Educational strikes called by the All Nepal National 
Independent Students' Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), the 
Maoist-affiliated student organization, have forced 
additional school closures.  In the western district of 
Baglung alone, the number of schools forced to close has 
increased to 115.  ANNISU-R members have threatened an 
indefinite shut down if their student leaders are not 
released by the Government.  Thirty-five schools in the 
remote western district of Mugu shut their doors after 
ANNISU-R demanded the schools follow a Maoist calendar in 
place of the government calendar.  The closures affect 
15,000 students.  ANNISU-R has also announced an educational 
shut-down in the eastern district of Morang for December 29- 
January 2, to protest alleged incidents of violence by 
security forces against unarmed students.  The militant 
student wing has ordered all schools in the region to close. 
 
HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST MURDERED; 
CIVILIANS SUFFER AT HANDS OF MAOISTS 
------------------------------------- 
 
14.  On December 30, a pregnant woman reportedly was 
murdered by Maoists in the eastern district of Sarlahi.  A 
human rights activist with the Informal Sector Service 
Centre (INSEC), a private NGO, was murdered on December 25 
in Banke District, a Maoist stronghold.  Maoists are 
suspected to be responsible.  Maoists reportedly killed a 
Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) 
cadre on December 28.  On December 27, rebels killed a 
civilian in Kailali District reportedly following a dispute 
over extortion demands.  A teacher, reportedly abducted by 
Maoists on December 21, was found dead on December 23. 
Rebels abducted him after accusing him of being an informant 
for security forces.  A Nepali Congress (NC) worker 
reportedly was hacked to death by Maoists on December 19 in 
Dhanusha District.  He had been abducted several days 
earlier. 
 
15.  Maoists reportedly abducted three civilians on December 
25 in Sindhupalchowk and a farmer in Salyan on December 29. 
Four other farmers were abducted on December 24 in Pyuthan 
District.  Rebels also abducted a civilian in Rautahat, 
accusing him of spying for the RNA. 
 
MAOISTS STRAPPED FOR CASH? 
-------------------------- 
 
16.  Maoists reportedly robbed several banks this week, and 
demanded ransom for detainees in their custody.  On December 
30, a group of armed Maoists stole computers, jewelry and 
USD 4000 from a bank in Chitwan.  On December 24, insurgents 
stole local currency worth USD 6500 from a bank in Urlabari. 
 
17.  On December 29, Maoists reportedly abducted the father 
of a journalist in the western district of Surkhet after 
stealing USD 400 from him.  The rebels are demanding a 
ransom of USD 4000 for his release.  Press accounts from 
Khotang District report that rebels in that region have 
demanded almost USD 5000 from family members for the release 
of people abducted by the insurgents to face various charges 
in the Maoists' so-called "Peoples' Courts."  On December 
24, Maoists boarded a bus in Jhapa District and robbed 
passengers of over USD 3000.  On December 22, Maoists 
reportedly bombed a steel factory in Bara District after the 
owner refused to meet their extortion demands. 
 
MALINOWSKI