US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU914

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000914 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/OP/NEA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER, ASEC, BEXP, CASC, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: SUSPECTED MAOISTS DESTROY PEPSI TRUCK 
 
REF: KATHMANDU 747 AND PREVIOUS 
 
1.  (SBU)  Suspected Maoist insurgents set fire to a 
Pepsi-Cola truck making deliveries in Dolakha District, about 
70 km east of Kathmandu the evening of May 7.  According to 
Rajiv Sant, Managing Director for the Indian-owned Pepsi 
franchise in Nepal, three gunmen stopped the truck and 
ordered the driver, salesman, and distributor to get out. 
After robbing them, Sant said the gunmen told the three Pepsi 
employees that "we don't want American companies here."  One 
of the gunmen then reportedly blew a whistle, at which point 
a number of young men emerged from the surrounding forest. 
The group then drove the truck off, leaving the three Pepsi 
employees to walk to the next town.  The three gunmen, 
meanwhile, "calmly walked off into the jungle," according to 
Sant. 
 
2.  (SBU)  Sant said he contacted the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) 
Battalion with responsibility for the area for assistance in 
locating the truck the next day.  The RNA found the vehicle 
about four km from the site of the hijacking.  It had been 
set on fire, completely damaging its cab and electrical 
panels.  Sant said he had been trying to keep the incident 
out of the press to avoid undue publicity (an unsuccessful 
effort; the vernacular press carried a short story on the 
event May 9).  He views the incident as a warning, and is 
assessing how it may affect the franchise's operations in 
Nepal.  He will visit the Embassy May 10 to discuss the 
matter further. 
 
3.  (SBU)  An Amcit university professor who has been a 
frequent visitor to Nepal over the past decade told conoff a 
Sherpa guide he knows and trusts had recently encountered a 
group of Maoists on the road from Jiri (also in Dolokha 
District).  As the guide proceeded on the trail from Jiri to 
Lukla, the entry point by air for Everest Base Camp, he said 
he met another group of 15 armed Maoists at Nuntala, 
Solukhumbu District, who warned him "not to take any 
Americans up" as trekking clients and forced him to listen to 
a lengthy tirade of propaganda. 
 
4.  (SBU)  Comment:  That the Pepsi franchise in Nepal is not 
owned by Americans is a distinction apparently lost on the 
insurgents.  Although Coca-Cola facilities have been attacked 
three times within the past year, this is the first attack on 
Pepsi property that we know of; althogether the attacks have 
taken place in three different districts of the country. 
Like the Coca-Cola attacks, only company property--rather 
than people--were targeted, and the same anti-American 
message given (Reftel).  One of the more bizarre elements of 
the Nepali Maoists' published precepts is opposition to soft 
drink companies.  The reported warnings given to the Sherpa 
guide are also a matter of concern.  The EAC will meet May 10 
to review the overall security situation. 
MALINOWSKI