US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU1183

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001183 
 
SIPDIS 
 
CA/OCS/ACS/NESA, DS/OP/NEA, DS/DSS/ITA AND 
SA/INS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CASC, PTER, ASEC, ECON, NP 
SUBJECT:  Consular Visit Assesses Conditions Outside 
Kathmandu Valley 
 
Refs: A) Kathmandu 209   B) Kathmandu 747  C) Kathmandu 
 
751 
 
1.  Summary.  Consul and Consular Assistant completed a 
five-day road trip last week to assess concerns about 
the safety of AmCit travel outside the Kathmandu Valley 
given the continuing Maoist insurgency, surveying 
primary travel routes and remote destinations frequented 
by American citizens.  The consular team held two well- 
attended warden meetings with AmCits living outside the 
Valley, met with emergency service providers and 
established contacts with key Government of Nepal (GON) 
officials at the district level.  The Americans visited, 
many of whom have been in Nepal's hinterlands for 
several years, expressed deep gratitude for the meetings 
and asked many security-related questions.  Some told of 
encounters with Maoists, but none reported threats, 
major incidents of harassment or anti-American sentiment 
in those encounters.   The primary road travel danger 
outside the Valley continues to be from busses and 
freight trucks careening around the precarious curves of 
Nepal's highways.  End Summary. 
 
2.  The consular team's road trip covered 800 kms from 
May 30 - June 3 with stops at the two most frequented 
destinations for foreign travelers outside Kathmandu 
Valley as well as a remote medical clinic staffed by 
Americans and operated by INGO United Mission to Nepal. 
In the process, the team drove through 12 of Nepal's 75 
districts.  Our Embassy plated vehicle was waved through 
all but two of the numerous police and army check posts 
along the route.  The only direct evidence of Maoist 
violence encountered was the burned-out hulk of a 
freight truck in Chaugidhar Village, Dhading District, 
bombed by Maoists during April's bandh. 
 
POKHARA 
-------------- 
 
3.  The first stop was Pokhara, Nepal's second most 
popular tourist destination (after Kathmandu Valley) and 
entry point for the Annapurna trekking and climbing 
routes.  Hoteliers, restauranteurs and merchants in this 
usually bustling town bemoaned a grim tourist season. 
Pokhara's 300 plus hotels were mostly empty. 
Admittedly, we arrived after the end of the high tourist 
season, but year-by-year comparisons indicate a dramatic 
drop in Western visitors.  Aside from some Indian 
tourists, our estimate (confirmed by the local AmCit 
hotel owner who hosted our American citizens meeting) 
was that less than 300 Westerners were visiting Pokhara 
during our stay. 
 
4.  A lively wardens meeting, lasting over two hours, 
was held in Pokhara on May 31.  Discussion of the Maoist 
situation, the incidents underlying the May 16 Public 
Announcement and Indo-Pak tensions dominated the meeting 
attended by 19 Americans plus 2 European representatives 
of INGOs with American volunteers.  Consul dispelled CNN 
reports of a USG decision to "evacuate" all American 
citizens throughout South Asia in the wake of the then 
escalating Indo-Pak conflict and carefully discussed 
procedures that might be taken in the event a worsening 
security situation led to a decision to advise Americans 
to depart Nepal.  We distributed a packet of information 
with emergency contacts, emergency and crisis 
procedures, Q&As about evacuation and suggested contents 
for a "go kit". 
 
5.  One American NGO volunteer reported that Maoists 
stopped him while riding his bicycle to work during the 
last bandh and asked where he was going.  He was told he 
could go to a friend's house, but that it was "not OK" 
to go to his office.  After the meeting, several 
individuals remarked that no official Embassy meeting 
for Americans in Pokhara had been held for some time and 
expressed thankfulness for the visit, especially in the 
present difficult times. 
 
6.  While in Pokhara, the consular team held several 
other very productive meetings, at hospitals, with the 
Chief District Officer and with emergency service 
providers.  Perhaps most important were our 
consultations with the local managers of Karnali Air and 
Fish Tail Air, who regularly assist us with emergency 
helicopter rescues in the Annapurna region.  We learned 
that helicopters must stop in Pokhara for refueling in 
most evacuation scenarios to Kathmandu because they must 
operate on minimum fuel to operate safely and land at 
high altitudes, especially in high winds.  We also 
learned that, due to recent crashes and the contracting 
of one Dynasty Air helicopter for exclusive use by the 
Armed Police in Nepalgunj, the "fleet" of available 
commercial rescue helicopters for Nepal has been reduced 
to 7.  Only Karnali Air will continue to pre-position a 
helicopter in Pokhara.  Lack of demand in the Everest 
region coupled with the decreased number of helicopters 
nationwide means the helicopters that had been pre- 
positioned in Lukla have been pulled -- and they are 
unlikely to return for the fall tourist season. 
Emergency medevacs of trekkers and climbers, operating 
chiefly from Kathmandu, will now take longer.  [Note: 
On the day of our meeting an Asian Airlines MI-17 
helicopter was lost en route from Mount Makalu to 
Lukla.] 
 
United Mission to Nepal Visit 
------------------------------------ 
 
7. On June 1, the team proceeded over Syangya District's 
torturous mountain roads to the Tansen Mission Hospital 
operated by the inter-denominational INGO United Mission 
to Nepal (UMN).  UMN's 240 expat staff (including 71 
Americans) manage hospitals, clinics, engineering and 
development projects in remote locations throughout 
Nepal.  The hospital in Tansen, UMN's largest, has 
served Nepalis in this isolated region continuously for 
more than 40 years, treating cases of Japanese 
encephalitis, meningitis and diarrhea, as well as 
surgeries, road accidents and maternity emergencies. 
During our visit, the 190-bed hospital was over 
capacity, with beds spread through the hallways. 
 
8.  We held an informal wardens meeting over dinner with 
the 14 Americans (including family members) and one nun 
who is a U.S. permanent resident, discussing the current 
security situation and procedures in the event of an 
emergency.  The Americans present felt concern about 
their isolated location and the availability of 
assistance in the event of an evacuation.  There is a 
serviceable helipad adjacent to the hospital. One recent 
American arrival brought a satellite telephone, and we 
made arrangements for an emergency test upon our return. 
As we heard in Pokhara, the Americans in Tansen reported 
that Maoist-called general strikes (bandhs) are strictly 
observed in their locale. 
 
9.  The group reported very good relations with the 
local community, the accumulation of 40 years of good 
will, and no Maoist threats.  However, two UMN clinics 
in other locations did receive threats last year, one of 
which had to be evacuated.  Maoists approached the 
hospital director, an American who has served in Tansen 
for 12 years, for "donations" once last fall.  He told 
the Maoists that the hospital could not give money and 
that the Maoists should go to individuals in the 
community rather than the institution.  He was never 
approached again.  He also stated that UMN's operations 
in some other districts were being scaled back or 
curtailed because of the security situation. 
 
Chitwan and Return 
------------------------ 
 
10.  Early the following morning, the consular tour 
descended into the plains region (Terai) on Nepal's 
southern border with India and stopped at the Royal 
Chitwan National Park, one of the world's few remaining 
habitats for tigers and other endangered species. 
Chitwan District has experienced several sporadic 
incidents of Maoist violence since hostilities renewed 
in November.  Nightly charges at the top of the line 
resort in Chitwan were $325 per night before the 
dramatic tourist downturn.  Now, in attempts to increase 
occupancy, its management is quietly approaching 
residents and others with a "special" $75 rate, elephant 
safari and naturalist walks included.  Even with the 
incentives, lack of guests has caused that lodge and 
most others in Chitwan Park to close prematurely for the 
summer.  All but core maintenance staff are on forced, 
unpaid leave until whenever it becomes cost effective to 
reopen in the fall. 
 
11.  A useful meeting took place with Chitwan District's 
acting Chief District Officer (CDO) in Bharatpur, Kamal 
Kanta Regmi.  He offered to assist with any welfare and 
whereabouts requests (we'd had one supposedly lost group 
of American university students in that district the 
previous week).  Regmi also offered to take the 
addresses of all Americans in Chitwan District and 
"check-in" with them -- an offer we politely declined. 
He stated that, although he cannot predict the future, 
Maoist violence in Chitwan has thus far been directed 
chiefly against individuals (as opposed to institutions 
or government offices).  [Note: Reftels detail recent 
Maoist attacks on Coca-Cola's plant Chitwan.]  In any 
case, Mr. Regmi promised to provide all possible 
assistance in any case involving American citizens. 
 
12  Road travel on Nepal circuitous, narrow highways is 
treacherous and grueling.  Although we never covered 
more than 200 kms on any day, every day's drive involved 
a minimum of six hours.  Along the way, we witnessed the 
aftermath of 20 major head-on collisions, more often 
than not between busses and large carriage trucks. 
Throughout the routes taken, the GON is installing large 
squares of rocks encased with thick wire mesh (similar 
to the landslide protection blocks) on the cliffside of 
the highway as barriers to prevent vehicles from going 
over the edge.  As we approached Kathmandu toward 
nightfall on June 3, we witnessed numerous Westerners on 
"night busses" headed toward Pokhara, despite explicit 
warnings in Nepal's Consular Information Sheet. 
 
13. Conclusion: This consular tour assisted the 
Embassy's efforts to monitor the security situation on 
the main highways utilized by Western travelers to Nepal 
and to apprise Americans living and working in two major 
remote locations of the present security situation.  The 
hundreds of Nepalis we encountered throughout the 
journey welcomed us with the genuine warmth that 
characterizes the people of this country, as we openly 
spoke of ourselves as Americans and about America's 
great friendship with Nepal.  The experience gained 
during this visit to remote areas reinforces the 
Embassy's evaluation that, barring a change in Maoist 
tactics, responsible travel on the main tourist routes 
outside the Kathmandu Valley does not pose any undue 
security risk from terrorism or criminal violence. 
 
Malinowski