US embassy cable - 04KATHMANDU1551

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 001551 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF, PGOV, PREL, NP, Bhutanese Refugees 
SUBJECT: NEPAL: SMALL CLASH BETWEEN BHUTANESE REFUGEES AND 
LOCALS RAISES CONCERNS 
 
1. (SBU) According to press reports, UNHCR staff and 
refugees, a fight between two Bhutanese refugees and three 
locals has led to the reimplementation of camp procedures 
requiring all refugees to request passes before leaving the 
refugee camps.  On 29 July, two Bhutanese refugees from the 
Beldangi II camp, who were cutting firewood without 
permission near the camp, were approached by the Chairman and 
two staff of the local community forest users group (CFUG). 
The CFUG members were wearing khukuri knives while patrolling 
the forest; the refugees, allegedly afraid of being harmed by 
the CFUG members, attacked the CFUG members, and beat up the 
Chairman. 
 
2. (SBU)  As a result, on 31 July the Chief District 
Officer/Director of the GON Refugee Coordination Unit, CFUG 
members, refugees, Camp Supervisors, UNHCR and other 
interested parties met to resolve the conflict.  The 
participants decided to strictly implement the "out pass" 
system at the camp.  (NOTE:  Many refugees, particularly at 
the Beldangi camps, leave the camps each day to work locally. 
 Until now, they had not requested or needed passes for this 
purpose, even though the policy had been on the books.  END 
NOTE.) 
 
3. (SBU) COMMENT:  Stricter implementation of the camp rules 
appears necessary, if only to minimize tensions with the 
locals.  However, any restrictions on free movement, even if 
only bureaucratic, is likely to be felt as a "considerable 
hardship," as one refugee commented.  Whether a hardship in 
reality or not, such perceptions increase refugee frustration 
with their uncertain circumstances.  Rumors of fencing off 
the camps, though apparently baseless, also have raised 
refugee anxiety levels.  END COMMENT. 
MORIARTY