US embassy cable - 04KATHMANDU1227

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 001227 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
LABOR FOR ILAB - VIVITA ROZENBERGS 
NSC FOR MILLARD 
LONDON FOR POL -GURNEY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/29/2014 
TAGS: PTER, EAID, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: NEPAL:  MAOISTS ATTACK NGO OFFICE IN MID-WEST 
 
REF: KATHMANDU 846 
 
Classified By: CDA JANET BOGUE.  REASON:  1.5 (B,D). 
 
1.  (SBU) At about 10:00 p.m. local time on June 28, Maoist 
insurgents detonated an improvised explosive device on the 
second floor of an office belonging to Backward Society 
Education (BASE), a local NGO, in Dhangadi, Kailali District. 
 According to NGO contacts, the Maoists ordered the 
night-time caretakers out of the building before exploding 
the device, and no one was injured.  A BASE employee told the 
Embassy that the bomb blew out a portion of the second floor, 
destroying computer equipment, furniture and windows, and 
damaging a vehicle parked outside in the driveway.  The 
employee added that the Maoists had attempted to take a fax 
machine with them upon leaving, but abandoned the equipment 
when it appeared that security forces were en route to the 
site.  Total damages are estimated at approximately USD 
35,000. 
 
2.  (C) BASE, which focuses its development activities on 
former bonded laborers (or "Kamaiyas"), is a local partner of 
Save the Children - US and the ILO, the implementing agency 
for the Department of Labor's time-bound program on child 
labor.  Although the Maoists were aware that BASE received 
U.S. funding, Save Country Director Keith Leslie does not 
believe the attack was prompted by the U.S. connection. 
Instead, he noted that BASE, like scores of other local and 
foreign NGOs and aid agencies operating in the five districts 
the Maoists have designated as the "Tharuwan People's 
Autonomous Government" (Reftel), has been under unrelenting 
pressure from the Maoists over the past several months to 
provide substantial sums of money and/or substantial amounts 
of expensive computer equipment and/or a substantial public 
statement of support for the nominal "government."  BASE's 
steadfast refusal to comply with any of these demands, rather 
than its U.S. funding, in Leslie's view elicited the Maoist 
attack.  To date, the Maoists have made no public statement 
about the bombing that would give an indication of their 
motivation. 
 
3.  (C) Comment:  Of all the nine so-called autonomous 
governments declared by the Maoists, the "Tharuwan People's 
Autonomous Government" has been the most aggressive in its 
extortion and harassment of aid agencies and NGOs.  Despite 
their anti-US rhetoric, the Maoists have not confined 
themselves to targeting U.S.-affiliated NGOs or partners; in 
addition to Nepali NGOs, Dutch, British and German aid 
agencies also have encountered problems.  In May the Dutch 
aid agency SNV suspended operations in Banke District because 
of Maoist attacks and intimidation.  Ironically, these 
organizations are focused on assisting and uplifting the very 
ethnic minorities the "autonomous government" claims to 
represent.   (BASE's beneficiaries are almost all ethnic 
Tharus).  Indeed, the Maoists may regard the NGOs' success in 
responding to local needs and in representing local interests 
as competition too stiff for a "government" whose only 
activities so far appear limited to extortion, sabotage and 
murder. 
BOGUE