US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU450

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 000450 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND DRL/BA 
LONDON FOR POL - RIEGEL 
CINCPAC FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, PTER, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: MAOISTS' MINORS:  INTERVIEWS WITH CHILD RECRUITS 
 
REF: A. (A) KATHMANDU 0446 
     B. (B) KATHMANDU 0379 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1.  (SBU)  Interviews with several Maoist child recruits at 
the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) division in the southwestern city 
of Nepalgunj indicate force, fear, and physical assault, 
rather than ideology, as their primary reasons for joining. 
At least two girls interviewed reported sexual abuse during 
their time as Maoist militia.  We expect such forced 
recruitment to increase as security forces continue to detain 
more suspects during the state of emergency--thereby 
depleting the Maoist militia further.  Government policy 
regarding "soft-core" members of the Maoist militia, 
including those who are under aged, remains unclear.  End 
summary. 
 
 
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MAIOST RECRUITERS MAKE HOUSE CALLS 
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2.  (SBU)  During a Feb. 22-24 visit to the Royal Nepal Army 
(RNA) division in the southwestern city of Nepalgunj, 
Ambassador Malinowski, accompanied by former U.S. Ambassador 
to Sri Lanka Peter Burleigh, who is a Nepali speaker, and 
DATT, met and interviewed several child recruits of the 
Maoists who had either surrendered or been captured and were 
temporarily being held in RNA custody.  Their accounts of how 
they joined the Maoists reveal that the insurgents use 
intimidation and force to enlist young Nepalis as porters, 
cooks, and in other support positions.  None of the young 
people interviewed seemed familiar with Maoist ideology, and 
each cited the use of force, rather than political beliefs, 
as their reasons for joining.  Some, however, reported having 
been promised a house or other material goods after the 
revolution.  None of the detainees interviewed could confirm 
meeting any foreign cadre during their time in the field, 
which, in some cases, spanned more than a year. 
 
 
3.  (SBU)  For most of the recruits, their career as Maoists 
began with a knock on the door of their homes in the middle 
of the night.  Two girls (ages 14 and 12) reported that 
Maoists had come to their villages in Dang about six months 
ago and had gone door to door, demanding that each family 
give up one member to serve the insurgency.  Fearing 
reprisals, the girls' families offered up their daughters. 
The girls worked as porters, carrying supplies for the 
insurgents as they moved from place to place, but both 
reported having been raped--sometimes repeatedly--on a 
nightly basis by the cadre.  The 14-year-old is reportedly 
pregnant.  A 17-year-old girl, who had a local reputation as 
a good singer, was dragooned into service as a performer for 
Maoist cultural programs that are staged in remote, rural 
locations.  She said she had been with the Maoists about a 
year and a half.  A 16-year-old boy, originally forced to 
enlist as a porter and cook, said the cadre eventually gave 
him some military training and began to use his services as a 
fighter as well.  The boy said he complied because he had no 
choice in the matter.  Another young man, described as a 
sub-commander, had received weapons training at a Maoist base 
in Nepal.  Since his capture, the teen-ager has been going 
out on patrol with the RNA.  The detainess described their 
respective home villages as poor and remote.  One girl, who 
said there is no school within walking distance to her home, 
has never been inside a classroom in her life. 
 
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FOR THE WANT OF SOME BENCHES, 
A MAOIST WAS MADE 
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4.  (SBU)  In at least one case, however, obtuse local 
officials appear to have inadvertently benefited Maoist 
recruitment efforts.  One teen-aged boy said that as a 
student, he once asked local authorities why no benches were 
available for the village school.  The authorities, sensing 
radical sympathies in his query, immediately branded him a 
Maoist.  His protests to the contrary--that all he really 
wanted was some benches--were to no avail.  Shortly 
thereafter, real Maoists came to his house, and, noting the 
cloud of local and apparently inexpungeable suspicion he had 
fallen under, observed he might as well come with them.  Once 
again, his protests to the contrary--that all he really 
wanted was some benches--proved fruitless and he was forced 
to join his putative comrades. 
 
5. (SBU)  The young detainees had been held at the RNA 
barracks in Nepalgunj for approximately 10 days.  Before 
that, they had been held at a brigade barracks in Rolpa for 
varying lengths of time.  At Nepalgunj, they are being held 
in barracks rooms, not cells, and said they were being given 
adequate medical treatment.  (The girls who had reported 
sexual abuse have apparently not been checked for signs of 
sexually transmitted diseases.  End note.)  None of the 
detainees interviewed reported any abuse during their time in 
RNA custody.  At meal time, the Ambassador observed the teens 
eating the same rations given to the soldiers.  Division 
Commander Maj. Gen. Sadip Shah said that a local committee, 
made up of representatives of the military, police, and civil 
authority, confers on the case of each suspected Maoist 
brought to the RNA barracks to decide whether sufficient 
evidence exists to keep the individual in custody.  Those 
deemed suspicious enough to continue to hold are turned over 
to the civilian police.  (Note:  Under the state of 
emergency, suspects may held up to 90 days without charges. 
End note.) 
 
6.  (SBU)   Each of the young detainees interviewed said that 
if released, they do not intend to return to their villages 
because of fear of reprisals from neighbors.  On the other 
hand, none seemed to have a clear idea of what to do instead, 
or to harbor much hope for the future.  A 19-year-old captive 
said that his wife is due to deliver a baby in April.  When 
asked if the military might bring his wife and new baby to 
him, the young man answered that he wants no one to know that 
he is in government custody or even alive.  If the Maoists 
learn he is in custody, they will believe him a traitor, 
placing both the lives of his wife and baby in jeopardy. 
 
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COMMENT 
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6.  (SBU)  No one, probably including the RNA, has a good 
idea of how many "hard-core" Maoist cadre have taken up arms 
against the government, nor how many support militia, like 
the unfortunate children in Nepalgunj, have been pressed into 
service against their will.  As the state of emergency 
continues and Government of Nepal (GON) security forces make 
more arrests, further depleting the ranks of the Maoists' 
cooks and porters, we expect the volume of forced 
recruitments to climb.  Each of the children said they had 
joined the Maoists because they felt they had no other 
alternative.  Now that they are out of Maoist hands, they 
still seem to have the same feeling of hopelessness.  Their 
unwillingness to return to their homes and families indicates 
just how bleakly they regard their own futures--and how 
vulnerable they may remain to possible "re-recruitment" 
efforts if released.  GON policy regarding "soft-core" Maoist 
recruits--especially those under age or who have 
surrendered--remains unclear.  Desepite our repeated queries, 
we have heard no discussion from the GON of prospective 
rehabilitation or amnesty programs for former Maoist militia 
or cadre.  Such a lack of planning seems short-sighted if the 
GON's ultimate goal is to persuade the Maoists to lay down 
their arms.  But when the Maoists in question are children 
conscripted by force, that lack of planning threatens to 
perpetuate the same cycle of hopelessness, circumscribed 
opportunity, and poverty that made those children likely 
recruits in the first place.  End comment. 
MALINOWSKI