US embassy cable - 04KATHMANDU957

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KATHMANDU 000957 
 
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, MAY 15-21, 
2004 
 
REFERENCE:  KATHMANDU 0914 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1.  Almost 150 local government officials throughout Nepal 
resigned reportedly due to Maoist threats.  Fourteen 
security personnel were killed and fifteen injured in 
separate clashes.  Thirty-six Maoists were also reported 
killed.  Maoists reportedly killed eight civilians, and 
abducted over 1000 civilians, including 100 teachers in the 
far west.  Maoist-planted bombs destroyed several government 
buildings, and damaged a popular tourist resort.  Amnesty 
International (AI) condemned the Maoists for mounting 
attacks on civilians.  The Royal Nepal Army (RNA) Chief of 
Staff said that "modernization and expansion" of the RNA is 
needed to combat the insurgency.  A three-day nationwide 
closure (bandh) called by the Maoists May 18-20 was 
generally well observed in the Kathmandu Valley.  End 
Summary. 
 
LOCAL BODY OFFICIALS RESIGN EN MASSE 
------------------------------------- 
 
2.  According to press accounts, almost 150 local government 
officials resigned throughout Nepal this week, allegedly due 
to Maoist pressure.  Ninety of them resigned en masse from 
the eastern district of Ilam.  Forty-seven resigned from the 
central districts of Lalitpur, Palpa, Gulmi, Makwanapur and 
Baglung, and nine from the eastern district of Saptari. 
Several ward chairmen also resigned in the western district 
of Banke. 
 
INSURGENCY DEATH TOLL RISES 
--------------------------- 
 
3.  Fourteen security personnel reportedly were killed and 
fourteen suffered injuries in separate incidents across 
Nepal: four police officers in the far-western district of 
Dadeldhura on May 20; two RNA soldiers were killed and four 
injured in the far-western district of Kanchanpur, and one 
soldier in Chitwan District on May 19; a police officer in 
the western district of Kailali and one in the western 
district of Kapilbastu on May 17; and a police officer in 
the western district of Dang on May 14.  The bodies of four 
security personnel in Dhading District were recovered on May 
15.  They officers had been missing since clashing with 
Maoists on May 11. 
 
4.  On May 18, three security personnel were injured when 
their patrol came under attack by Maoists in Nuwakot 
district, north of Kathmandu.  Five other security personnel 
also suffered injuries in a Maoist ambush in the western 
district of Surkhet on May 17.  Seven Armed Police Force 
(APF) personnel were injured on May 16 when a bus carrying 
them was ambushed on the border of Dang and Kapilbastu 
districts in western Nepal. 
 
5.  Clashes in the western districts of Dadeldhura and 
Kailali on May 20 reportedly left seventeen Maoists dead. 
Nineteen Maoists also were killed in other incidents:  five, 
including a platoon commander, in Chitwan District on May 
19; four in the central district of Nawalparasi and three in 
the mid-western district of Surkhet on May 18; four in the 
districts of Siraha, Nuwakot, Dolakha and Syangja on May 17; 
and one in the central district of Gorkha on May 15. 
 
ARMY NEEDS MODERNISATION AND EXPANSION 
-------------------------------------- 
 
6.  Chief of the Army Staff Pyar Jung Thapa of the Royal 
Nepal Army (RNA) said on May 12 that "modernization and 
expansion" is necessary to combat the insurgency.  Thapa 
also cited the difficult terrain as another hindrance.  He 
said cooperation between security forces and civil sector 
was "crucial" in the matter of national security. 
 
MAOIST ATROCITIES CONTINUE 
--------------------------- 
 
7.  Maoist violence left eight civilians dead, including a 
fifteen-year-old student in Sindhupalchowk; a recently 
nominated Village Development Committee (VDC) chief in the 
central district of Mahottari on May 18; an elderly woman in 
the western district of Rupandehi also on May 18; an Indian 
ex-serviceman in the western district of Kaski district and 
a Nepali Congress (NC) activist in Saptari District on May 
16.  Three people, including a 15-year-old student, died 
when a banner bomb exploded in Sindhupalchok district in 
central Nepal on May 17; and one person was killed and two 
injured in the western district of Dailekh on May 15 from a 
Maoist-planted bomb.  On May 19, a four-year-old child was 
killed and his brother injured when a Maoist-planted socket 
bomb exploded in Banke district in mid-west Nepal. 
 
8. On May 15, villagers armed with traditional weapons of 
spears, arrows, and axes attended a mass gathering in the 
eastern district of Morang to protest Maoist atrocities. 
The locals, frustrated with the increasing violence, pledged 
that they were willing and able to retaliate against the 
Maoists. The mass gathering was attended by people from 
various ethnic backgrounds 
 
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNS MAOISTS 
-------------------------------------- 
 
9.  On May 15, Amnesty International (AI) issued a statement 
condemning the mounting attacks on civilians by Maoists.  AI 
representatives also called on the rebels to respect human 
rights and abide by international humanitarian standards. 
The human rights organization voiced concern over the mass 
abductions of teachers and students, and threats against aid 
organizations. 
 
10.  On May 20, a report compiled by independent 
investigators from local human rights organizations blasted 
the Maoists for violating "basic human rights laws" by 
firing upon a passenger bus last week (Reftel).  The report 
accuses the insurgents of acting against the Geneva 
Convention when they began to "fire indiscriminately" at 
innocent civilians.   Maoist commanders in the eastern 
district of Dolakha issued a press statement on May 18 
criticizing the "one-sided propaganda" of the state- 
controlled press, and denied responsibility.  The statement 
further warns people not to travel in the same vehicles as 
"fascist army and police." 
 
MAOISTS TORCH VEHICLES 
---------------------- 
 
11.  On May 14, Maoist-detonated bombs in the central 
district of Palpa destroyed two vans. Rebels in that 
district also torched three motorcycles.  On May 17, Maoists 
torched a passenger bus in Syangja district, and also set 
fire to an ambulance in the eastern district of Dhankuta. 
On May 16, rebels in the western district of Kaski 
reportedly torched a vehicle owned by Chinese nationals 
working on a hydropower project in the western district of 
Salyan. 
 
12. On May 14, Maoists returned a motorcycle it had seized 
belonging to the Natural Resource Management Program 
(NARMSAP).  The rebels returned the vehicle in the presence 
of the Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC), a local NGO. 
Gert Meinecke, Charge d' Affaires of the Royal Danish 
Embassy had published a statement on May 13, demanding the 
return of the vehicle or NARMAP, which operates under the 
Danish aid agency DANIDA, would suspend all its operations 
in the mid-west (Reftel). 
 
MAOISTS TARGET DEVELOPMENT STRUCTURE AND INDUSTRIES 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
13.  According to media reports, the rebels detonated two 
powerful bombs inside the Agriculture Research Center in 
Dailekh district in mid-west Nepal on May 14 and at the 
Regional Agriculture Training Center in Kanchanpur district. 
Both buildings suffered extensive damage.  On same day, a 
group of Maoists bombed the Fishtail Lodge, a popular 
tourist resort in Pokhara.  Maoists reportedly bombed a 
garment factory in the Kathmandu Valley on May 14, injuring 
two civilians. Suspected Maoists exploded a powerful bomb at 
the Labor Tribunal in Kathmandu on May 17. A Maoist attack 
on an airport in the mid-western district of Mugu on May 16 
destroyed two buildings.  On that same day, the insurgents 
bombed a tourist resort in Chitwan National Park. On May 17, 
Maoists bombed a hydropower plant in the mid-western 
district of Rolpa, leaving residents in the immediate 
vicinity without power. 
 
14.  On May 17, the local press reported that Maoists stole 
equipment worth almost USD 55,000 rupees 4 million from 
Radio Nepal's relay station in the far-western district of 
Kanchanpur. 
 
REBELS, TOURISTS CLASH 
---------------------- 
 
15.  On May 13 in the western district of Myagdi, a group of 
five Israeli tourists reportedly clashed with Maoists, after 
the tourists refused to meet extortion demands by the 
rebels. No injuries were reported, and the tourists 
eventually paid a 70 USD "fee" to the rebels, who then left. 
Eight Japanese tourists were also forced to cancel a trip to 
Parbat due to the Maoist-imposed blockade in the district. 
 
MAOISTS CONTINUE ABDUCTION 
-------------------------- 
 
16.  On May 20, the local press reported that Maoists 
abducted 1000 civilians in the far western district of 
Kailali. According to the villagers, the rebels forcibly 
gathered elderly, children and pregnant women.  Security 
officials in the region said they could not verigy the mass 
abduction.  On May 17, Maoists reportedly also abducted 100 
teachers from various schools in Sarlahi district. They were 
released the following day. Maoists abducted other civilians 
this week: a local council member in Syangja and three 
civilians on May 14; an engineer in Kanchanpur district on 
May 15; an elderly man and student in Solukhumbu district on 
May 17; a priest from a battalion of the RNA in Ramechhap 
district on May 16; and three government employees in 
Baitadi district in far-western Nepal on May 16. 
 
THREE-DAY GENERAL STRIKE 
------------------------ 
 
17.  A three-day nationwide closure (bandh) called by the 
Maoists May 18-20 was generally well-observed in the 
Kathmandu Valley with little violence, although on May 19 
three taxis were damaged after Maoists detonated bombs 
inside the vehicles.  All public transportation, educational 
institutions, factories and financial institutions were 
closed. However, on the second and third day of the strike, 
more vehicles were seen on the roads, including taxis, buses 
and tempos.  Domestic airline officials said that they are 
incurring losses amounting to thousands of dollars, with 
over 70 percent of flights from Pokhara being canceled due 
to the strikes and Maoist-imposed blockades.  On May 18, two 
civilians reportedly died because there was no 
transportation available to take them to the hospital. 
 
BOGUE