US embassy cable - 04KATHMANDU120

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KATHMANDU 000120 
 
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, PHUM, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, JANUARY 10-16, 
2004 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1.    Almost 100 insurgents have surrendered since the 
announcement of the Government of Nepal's (GON) amnesty 
program.  On January 9, Maoists released an economic report 
touting tourists as their main source of revenue. On January 
15, Maoists gunned down a newly appointed mayor.  According 
to press accounts, nine security personnel were killed and 
thirteen injured in separate clashes.  Security forces 
reportedly killed twenty-nine Maoists.  On January 15, RNA 
spokesman Colonel Deepak Gurung said 1200 Maoists have been 
confirmed dead and 200 more suspected killed in clashes 
since the breakdown of the cease-fire on August 27, 2003. 
Over 5,000 people benefited from mobile camps held in 
several districts.  Crossfire reportedly killed two 
civilians, including a child, and Maoists reportedly 
murdered four others.  Insurgents abducted four civilians, 
including a student, who remain missing.  Maoists in the far 
west reportedly are forcing children, women and elderly 
people to serve as sentinels.  According to press reports, 
the Indian Special Service Bureau (SSB) arrested three 
Indian nationals on January 9 on charges of supplying 
weapons to Maoists.  On January 16, members from the 
National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) were granted access 
by security forces to patients being treated at the army 
hospital in Kathmandu.  End Summary. 
 
ALMOST 100 MAOISTS SURRENDER 
---------------------------- 
 
2.  According to newspaper reports, fifty-seven Maoist 
cadres surrendered in various districts this week, including 
four brigade commanders.  During a press conference on 
January 15, Royal Nepal Army (RNA) spokesman Colonel Deepak 
Gurung reported that ninety-four insurgents had surrendered 
since the announcement of the Government of Nepal's (GON) 
amnesty program.  Post on January 15, also contacted a Home 
Ministry Joint Secretary who confirmed that almost 100 
Maoists have surrendered.  The Joint Secretary commented 
that the numbers were not as important as the fact that high- 
level Maoists, such as company and brigade commanders, were 
surrendering as well as the lower-ranking cadres. 
 
3.  RNA units in the northeastern district of Sindhupalchowk 
reportedly have started a campaign to persuade Maoists to 
surrender.  The RNA personnel are distributing letters to 
the insurgents, urging them to give up violence.  According 
to local press reports, the RNA and the locals also meet 
weekly to discuss security concerns as well as address any 
other problems. In addition to the meetings, security 
personnel and the locals have drafted their own code of 
conduct. 
 
4.  In addition to dealing with the loss of those cadres who 
have surrendered, the Maoist organization allegedly is 
facing internal strife.  Four rebels were killed following 
an argument over an investigation into a fire, and another 
cadre was killed after the bomb he was carrying exploded. 
Several other insurgents suffered injuries. 
 
MAOISTS RELEASE ECONOMIC REPORT; 
TOURISTS MAIN SOURCE OF REVENUE 
------------------------------- 
 
5.  On January 9, the Maoists' so-called development 
committee in Taplejung District, which borders India in the 
east, released an economic report touting tourists as their 
main source of revenue.  According to the report, extortion 
from tourists and people associated with the tourism 
industry are the insurgents' main source of income.  Other 
sources include taxes and fines imposed by the rebels on 
teachers, government workers and farmers.  Maoists also 
collect a percentage of crops from the farmers. 
 
MAOISTS GUN DOWN MAYOR 
---------------------- 
 
6.  The Mayor of Birgunj, in Bara District, reportedly was 
gunned down by Maoists on the morning of January 15.  Gopal 
Giri, who was only recently appointed to the position, had 
gone to meet the Maoists at their request.  According to 
press accounts, the rebels had demanded almost USD 7000 from 
the Mayor in December, and later demanded Giri's resignation 
after he refused to meet the insurgents' extortion demand. 
The Mayor's brother was also wounded in the shooting.  It is 
not clear whether the killing was retribution for resisting 
the extortion demand or part of a broader campaign of 
assassinating city officials. 
 
CLASHES CLAIM LIVES 
------------------- 
 
7.  According to press accounts, nine security personnel 
were killed and thirteen injured in separate clashes.  A 
Royal Nepal Army (RNA) soldier and two civilians were killed 
on January 16, after a bomb exploded inside a passenger bus 
in Dhankuta District.  The soldier was conducting a security 
search on the bus.  It is not clear what caused the bomb to 
detonate.  On January 15, a soldier and a policeman were 
killed in separate ambushes.  The soldier was killed after 
Maoists ambushed a joint patrol team of army and police in 
Kathmandu District.  Three other security men were injured 
in the attack.  A group of Maoists in Dhankuta District 
opened fire on police at a government office, killing one 
and injuring another.  On January 14, an Armed Police Force 
(APF) officer was killed and three others wounded in the 
western district of Surkhet after their patrol was ambushed 
by Maoists.  On that same day in the east, in Dhading 
District, four security personnel were injured after hitting 
a Maoist-laid landmine.  Another policeman was killed on 
January 13 in Dhanusha District, following a confrontation 
with Maoists on a passenger bus.  On January 11 a soldier 
was killed in the eastern district of Udayapur.  Three 
traffic police were shot and killed by Maoists in the early 
morning of January 10 in Dhading District. 
 
8.  On January 14, two insurgents were killed in the western 
district of Dailekh and another thirteen in different 
clashes on January 13; seven from the eastern districts of 
Jhapa, Kavre, Parsa, and Khotang; three from the western 
districts of Dang, Salyan, and Surkhet; and three from the 
central districts of Gulmi and Gorkha.  On January 11, eight 
insurgents were killed in the eastern districts of Jhapa, 
Taplejung and Bara, and two more in Gorkha.  Four rebels, 
including a female, were killed in clashes on January 10 in 
Rautahat, Khotang, Dhanusha and Morang Districts. 
 
9.  On January 13, the local press reported that the 
Government of Nepal (GON) is considering equipping traffic 
police with guns due to the increasing attacks by Maoists 
against unarmed policemen.  According to the Valley Traffic 
Police Office (VTPO) Chief Surrendra Bahadur Pal, the VTPO 
has long demanded weapons for all its personnel, and the 
increased violence has made it "a necessity."  Seven traffic 
policemen have been shot and killed by Maoists in the past 
year. 
 
RNA CLAIMS 1400 MAOISTS KILLED 
------------------------------ 
 
10.  At a January 15 press conference, RNA spokesman Colonel 
Deepak Gurung said security forces were experiencing 
"remarkable success" against the Maoists.  Gurung said 1200 
Maoists have been confirmed dead and 200 more suspected 
killed in clashes since the breakdown of the cease-fire on 
August 27, 2003.  Three hundred and eighteen security 
personnel also lost their lives due to the insurgency.  When 
questioned about security personnel defecting to join the 
Maoists, Gurung answered that he could not confirm such 
cases, but added "one is free after he quits the RNA." 
Gurung also opined that Maoists could be involved in the 
recent, often violent, student protests. 
 
MAOIST ROBBERIES SCORE USD 15,000 
--------------------------------- 
 
11.  Maoists netted USD 15,000 from two bold robberies on 
January 12.  Armed rebels robbed a bank in Kaski District, 
and a customer counter of the Nepal Electricity Authority in 
Itahari District.  Police recovered a van used in the bank 
robbery, but all the suspects remain at large. 
 
THOUSANDS BENEFIT FROM MOBILE CAMPS 
----------------------------------- 
 
12.  Over 5,000 people benefited from mobile camps held in 
the central districts of Lalitpur and Lamjung, the western 
districts of Jajarkot, Baglung, and Dadeldhura, and the 
eastern districts of Taplejung and Sunsari.  Security forces 
reportedly helped saved the life of a pregnant woman 
suffering serious complications at the health camp in 
Baglung.  The mobile camps provide government services such 
as physical examinations and administrative assistance, and 
also distribute medicine and agricultural and school 
supplies. 
 
VIOLENCE AGAINST CIVILIANS UNABATED 
----------------------------------- 
 
13.  A man and a child reportedly were killed in crossfire 
in separate incidents on January 15.  An eight-year-old 
child was hit by a stray bullet when security forces and 
Maoists clashed in Bajura District.  It is unclear which 
side killed the child.  An eighty-two-year-old man was 
killed in Chitwan by security forces who opened fire on 
Maoists from a helicopter.  Maoists reportedly killed four 
civilians in separate incidents.  On January 15 the 
insurgents murdered a seventy-three-year-old man in Parbat 
District, and a healthcare worker in Solukhumbu who had been 
abducted by the rebels on January 2.  On January 13, in the 
far-western district of Kalikot, insurgents brutally 
murdered a man after stealing USD 120 from him.  Another 
civilian was killed by the rebels in Mahottari District on 
January 10.  He was affiliated with the Rastriya Prajatantra 
Party (RPP). 
 
14.  A fifteen-year-old student reportedly was abducted from 
his home by Maoists on January 9 in the eastern district of 
Therathum.  On January 11, three businessmen also were 
abducted by rebels in the far-eastern district of Jhapa. 
They remain missing. 
 
MAOISTS USE CHILDREN AS SENTINELS 
--------------------------------- 
 
15.  Maoists in the far western district of Kalikot 
reportedly are forcing children, women and elderly people to 
serve as sentinels.  The rebels demand that one member from 
each family serve as guards, and are under strict orders to 
notify the Maoists of any approaching security personnel. 
According to the villagers, children as young as eight years 
old and people as old as seventy have been forced to stand 
guard. 
 
INDIAN ARMS DEALERS ARRESTED 
---------------------------- 
 
16.  According to press reports, on January 9, the Indian 
Special Service Bureau (SSB) deployed on the Indo-Nepal 
border arrested three Indian nationals on charges of 
supplying weapons to Maoists in Nepal's district of Sarlahi, 
which borders India in the south.  Nepal police reportedly 
supplied the SSB with information that led to the arrests. 
 
NHRC GRANTED ACCESS TO ARMY HOSPITAL 
------------------------------------ 
 
17.  On January 16, members from the National Human Rights 
Commission (NHRC) were granted access by security forces to 
patients being treated at the army hospital in Kathmandu. 
NHRC representatives were at the hospital to survey the 
condition and treatment of security personnel, civilians and 
Maoists wounded in the insurgency.  The NHRC repeatedly has 
voiced concern over alleged human rights abuses by security 
personnel. 
 
MALINOWSKI