US embassy cable - 04KATHMANDU833

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 000833 
 
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 ALVERSON 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS, PTER, CASC, PGOV, NP, PHUM, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, APRIL 24-30, 
2004 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1.   The Royal Nepal Army spokesperson indicated that the 
Army is ready for a permanent peace and would support 
government-Maoists talks.  Since the end of the cease-fire, 
RNA figures indicate that 1,973 Maoists and 176 security 
personnel have been killed.  The RNA also reported that 
approximately 940 Maoists have surrendered since the 
government's amnesty offer, and the Home Ministry has 
extended the deadline until July 15.  There are widespread 
reports of government officials resigning following Maoist 
threats.  The Maoists claimed responsibility for shooting 
and critically injuring the government-appointed mayor of 
Butwal on April 27, because he refused to resign from his 
post.  A senior Maoist leader admitted that the Maoists used 
Indian soil for their April 7 attack on the police post, 
during which 39 policemen were taken hostage, in Ilam 
District and would continue to use Indian territory "to 
achieve their political goals."  The Maoists released the 
abducted policemen into International Committee for the Red 
Cross' (ICRC) custody the afternoon of April 30. 
 
2.  Summary Continued.  The U.S. Embassy received a 
disturbing, second-hand report about a young European girl 
being detained by a group of armed Maoists for about 24 
hours while she was trekking outside of Kathmandu.  Another 
woman on the same trek reported anti-American and anti- 
royalist banners and graffiti along the trail.  The Maoists 
bombed a regional office of the Geneva-based Lutheran World 
Federation (LWF) located in far western Nepal on April 27. 
LWF recently ceased its rural operations in the region 
following a Maoist extortion demand.  End Summary. 
 
RNA PREPARED TO END THE MAOIST INSURGENCY 
----------------------------------------- 
 
3.  During a press briefing on April 27, newly appointed 
Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) chief spokesperson, Brigadier 
General Rajendra Thapa stated that the RNA is ready to "end 
the war" with the Maoist insurgents and is prepared to 
"inflict the minimum damage possible" for "a permanent 
peace."  Thapa mentioned that the RNA would support talks 
between government forces and the Maoists.  Thapa also 
indicated that according to RNA figures, 1,973 Maoists and 
176 RNA have been killed since the end of the cease-fire in 
August 2003. 
 
4.  Since the Government's amnesty offer in December 2003, 
RNA figures also show that 940 Maoists have surrendered to 
security forces. The Home Ministry extended the deadline for 
Maoists to surrender until July 15.  Press reports indicate 
that Dambar Singh (alias Sundar), section commander of the 
Maoists' "Seti Brigade," surrendered to the Armed Police on 
April 27. 
 
5.  The RNA's Department of Military Training reportedly 
decided to introduce human rights training at the basic 
recruit training level and revise the curriculum of other 
senior training courses as a result of domestic and 
international concern about human rights abuses. 
 
MAOISTS TARGET GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS 
AND DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS 
----------------------------------- 
 
6.  The Mayor of Butwal Municipality, Puna Ram Pokhrel, is 
recovering from bullet wounds to the head following an 
attack on April 27.  Reports indicate that Maoists had 
recently ordered Pokhrel, a National Democratic Party (RPP) 
activist and government-appointed official, to resign from 
his post.  The Maoists later claimed responsibility for the 
attack. 
 
7.  Reports allege that 65 Village Development Committee 
(VDC) secretaries from Morang District (in eastern Nepal) 
decided to resign from their posts following death threats 
from the Maoists.  According to news reports, the Maoists 
gave the VDC secretaries a one-week ultimatum and exploded 
pressure cooker bombs at 36 VDC buildings to pressure the 
secretaries into compliance with their demands.  As a result 
 
SIPDIS 
of this mass resignation, government work normally handled 
at the village level will be shifted to the government's 
district offices. 
 
8.  Similar news reports of government resignations are 
surfacing from Kanchanpur District headquarters (the far- 
western region) following Maoist threats.  The Maoists 
announced a one-month long protest against Kanchanpur's 
district headquarters, specifically targeted at government 
representatives and vehicles.  In addition, a Maoist protest 
program reportedly will attempt to blockade all supplies 
into the district headquarters.  The Maoists have also 
announced an indefinite economic blockade in the northern 
parts of Dhading District (west of Kathmandu) in retaliation 
for the death of Maoist leaders earlier in the month. 
 
9.  The Eastern Development Region Administrator, Lalit 
Bahadur Thapa, reported that damage by the Maoists over the 
past eight years amounts to more than NRs. 555 million 
(approximately USD 7.5 million).  However, this figure, 
according to Thapa, does not include losses caused by the 
attack on Bhojpur district headquarters or on the police 
post in Ilam District. 
 
MAOISTS CONTINUE TO USE INDIAN SOIL 
----------------------------------- 
 
10.  On April 24 in Gulmi, Bam Dev Chhetri, Maoist Central 
Committee Member, told journalists that the Maoists would 
continue to use Indian territory "to achieve their political 
goals."  Chhetri then admitted to journalists that the 
Maoists had used Indian territory during their attack on the 
police post in Ilam district on April 7, during which 41 
policemen were taken into Maoist custody. 
 
MAOISTS TO RELEASE 39 POLICEMEN 
------------------------------- 
11.  The Maoists released the 39 police hostages (one 
refused to be handed over to the government authorities) 
into the custody of the International Committee for the Red 
Cross (ICRC) during an official ceremony with journalists 
present the afternoon of April 30. The insurgents took the 
40 policemen hostage following an April 7 attack on a police 
post in Ilam district.  Prior to the hostages' release, ICRC 
encouraged the RNA to halt its search and rescue operations 
in four districts (including Tehrathum, Panchthar, 
Sankhuwasabha and Taplejung) and "create a favorable 
environment for their release."  The RNA ceased its 
operations in those districts on April 28. 
 
 
MAOISTS CONDUCT POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS; 
FORCED RECRUITMENT CONTINUES 
----------------------------------- 
 
12.  Maoists continue to force villagers to participate in 
their political events.  Maoists have reportedly abducted 
200 students from Doti District, 200 students from Darchula 
Districts and 150 villagers from Baitadi District and forced 
them to attend Maoist "political trainings."  There are 
various reports in eastern districts that the Maoists plan 
to intensify forced recruitment campaigns, demanding one 
person from each family for their militia.  A vernacular 
paper (far-left, Maoist sympathetic) referenced a statement 
that Prachanda made during an internal speech this week 
which indicated that the Maoists intended to use youths and 
villagers as "human shields" during a "big attack" in 
eastern Nepal "sometime in the next two to three months." 
 
FROM THE EYES OF A YOUNG EUROPEAN 
--------------------------------- 
 
7.  The U.S. Embassy has received a disturbing, second-hand 
report of a young European girl living in Kathmandu being 
detained by a group of armed Maoists for approximately 24 
hours while trekking in the Helambu (formerly a popular 
trekking destination about 1 -2 days northeast of 
Kathmandu).  During the encounter, the girl was forced to 
make statements and other actions in support of the Maoists, 
which were videotaped by the insurgents.  She was told that 
the video would be used "for propaganda purposes" before she 
was released.  Another woman on the same trekking route 
reported that she did not encounter Maoists, but did see a 
number of banners and wall graffiti along the trail with 
slogans like "Murder the King" and "Murder Americans," in 
English along with other Nepali phrases that she could not 
read.  This woman had heard that there was a major Maoist 
gathering along the trail recently. 
 
LUTHERAN WORLD FEDERATION OFFICE TARGETED 
----------------------------------------- 
 
8.  The Lutheran World Federation regional office in Kailali 
District (far western Nepal) received an extortion demand 
from the Maoists about 2 weeks ago.  The Geneva-based INGO 
refused to pay the demand and instead decided to draw down 
its rural offices and cease all LWF funded activities 
throughout the country this week. On 27 April, Maoists 
detonated a bomb at the LWF office in Kailali District. 
Three Maoists were killed during the blast. 
 
 
BOGUE