US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU1105

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 001105 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
STATE PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
ROME FOR USMISSION 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PTER, ASEC, EAID, ELAB, PHUM, PINR, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: MAOISTS KILL NGO WORKER; MORE WFP SUSPENSIONS 
 
REF: KATHMANDU 871 
 
INGO Staffer Tortured and Killed by Maoists 
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1. (SBU) The Plan International (PI) representative for 
western Nepal's Bajhang district, a Nepalese national, was 
tortured and killed by Maoist rebels May 31, the 
organization's country director confirmed.  Two other men 
were also killed in related incidents, according to June 3 
press reports.  PI had recently decided to evacuate its staff 
from Bajhang district due to deteriorating conditions.  About 
two months ago Maoists looted the Bajhang district office and 
subsequently PI began to phase out operations there.  Staff 
had first been sent to the district headquarters, and later 
on to Nepalgunj, western Nepal's largest city.  The district 
representative had been the last employee remaining in 
Bajhang, and had planned to evacuate soon. 
 
Maoists Suspect Informer 
------------------------ 
 
2. (SBU) The head of the Nepal Police confirmed the deaths of 
the three men, adding that the Maoists suspected them of 
being police informants.  Security forces had caught up with 
eight insurgents the day before the killings, the IGP noted. 
 
Pattern Had Been Not to Harm Staff 
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3. (SBU) Maoists had previously raided Plan International 
offices in several areas of Nepal, but always took care not 
to harm staff, the PI country director related.  The pattern 
has been that the Maoists come in, burn documents and files, 
confiscate furnishings and plunder equipment.  Staff members 
are given a lecture and then told to leave the area and not 
to return. 
 
WFP Suspends Work in Two More Districts 
--------------------------------------- 
 
4. (U) The World Food Program (WFP) announced May 24 that it 
would suspend deliveries to a "food-for-work" program 
targeted at former bonded laborers in two western Nepal 
districts, Kailali and Bardiya, bordering India.  The 
suspension came after Maoists looted 29.5 metric tons of rice 
from a warehouse in Bardiya district May 17.  It follows the 
April 24 suspension of a joint German-WFP program in two 
districts in northwestern Nepal (Reftel).  WFP has announced 
a "zero-tolerance" policy in response to the repeated looting 
of its stocks.  The deputy head of a U.S.-based NGO who 
recently visited Kailali and Bardiya estimated that in the 
absence of the WFP's food-for-work program, its beneficiaries 
would run out of food in a few months. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
5. (SBU) Judging from accounts of these and previous raids on 
NGO offices, the insurgents are still not specifically 
targeting aid workers.  The PI country director agreed that 
their district representative was not attacked as an aid 
worker per se, but rather for allegedly acting as an 
individual informant.  Even so, his affiliation with an 
international NGO did not protect him.  The looting of WFP 
warehouses seems to have been similarly opportunistic.  These 
events have made aid agencies increasingly concerned about 
the safety of their projects and personnel, especially in 
western Nepal. 
MALINOWSKI