US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU977

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000977 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, ASEC, PINR, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: Maoists Attack Orphan School 
 
REFS: A) Kathmandu 933, B) Kathmandu 828 
 
Bomb at Foreign-Funded Boarding School 
-------------------------------------- 
 
1. (U) Insurgents set off a bomb at a well-known INGO- 
funded orphanage and boarding school in Surkhet district 
400 km west of Kathmandu late on May 17.  No one was 
injured in the blast, caused by a pressure cooker bomb 
placed in the window of the principal's residence.  The 
event garnered wide press coverage throughout the country 
May 19 and 20, and the Maoists were roundly criticized for 
it. 
 
No Recent Threat Preceded Attack 
-------------------------------- 
 
2. (U) The Chief District Officer (CDO) for Surkhet 
confirmed press reports of the incident.  The CDO added 
that although the school had received threats from the 
Maoists last year, there had been none made recently. 
[Note:  A press report quotes the school's principal 
saying the Maoists had never threatened his school.  End 
Note.]  He also noted that all other boarding schools in 
Surkhet had been closed since last year due to the threat 
of Maoist violence.  [Comment:  Maoist dogma is critical 
of and threatening to private schools and private schools 
have been attacked in the past.  Recently a Maoist bomb 
exploded next to an orphanage in Kathmandu (Ref B).  End 
Comment.] 
 
School for Orphans, Disadvantaged Kids 
-------------------------------------- 
 
3. (U) About 500 children attend the school, an SOS 
Children's Village funded by the Hermann Gmeiner 
Foundation in Innsbruck, Austria.  The SOS Children's 
Villages are world famous for their work with orphans and 
other disadvantaged children at facilities around the 
world.  Of the 500 pupils, 145 are orphans who board at 
the school.  Nearly all the rest are day students from 
disadvantaged families who attend tuition-free.  The 
school has been closed until further notice due to the 
attack. 
 
4. (SBU) The National Director for SOS Nepal left the 
capital for Surkhet May 18 to inspect the damage.  He told 
the principal of an SOS school in Kathmandu that he was 
trying to console the children, who were still panicked. 
The bomb blast rendered dormitories unusable, so students 
had to double up at night.  No classrooms were damaged. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
5. (SBU) The attack is a new low for the Maoists.  Coming 
almost a week after Maoists raided a university in nearby 
Dang district (Ref A), the attack on SOS suggests that the 
Maoist movement has finally descended to primitive 
anarchism.  Attacks on orphans and disadvantaged children 
have not won the Maoists any friends, and in fact have 
helped sway public opinion against them. 
 
MALINOWSKI