US embassy cable - 02KATHMANDU1688

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001688 
 
SIPDIS 
 
GENEVA FOR RMA 
ROME FOR USMISSION 
BRUSSELS FOR USMISSION 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/29/2012 
TAGS: PREF, PREL, EAID, AORC, PHUM, NP, Bhutanese Refugees 
SUBJECT: NEPAL AND BHUTAN TALK REFUGEES "INFORMALLY," BUT 
PROCESS REMAINS STALLED 
 
REF: KATHMANDU 298 
 
Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Robert K. Boggs, Reasons 1.5 (b) 
, (d). 
 
1. (C) Summary.  Nepal and Bhutan have discussed the 
Bhutanese refugee issue "informally," but a date has still 
not been set for the next round of Ministerial-level talks on 
the issue.  According to Nepal's Foreign Secretary, the 
differences between the two sides have narrowed, and Bhutan 
appeared flexible.  The EU recently sent a fact-finding 
mission to the camps and subsequently wrote to the two 
nations' leaders asking that they speed the process of 
verification and repatriation.  Also, Bhutan hosted visits by 
two prominent Nepali politicians.  Many refugees have become 
restless waiting for the process to resume, with some 
pledging to "take action."  Without international attention, 
progress on the Bhutanese refugee issue is unlikely.  End 
Summary. 
 
Nepal: "Informal" Talks on Refugees Ongoing 
------------------------------------------- 
 
2. (C) Nepal and Bhutan continue to discuss the Bhutanese 
refugee issue "informally," Nepal's Foreign Secretary Madhu 
Raman Acharya told DCM August 23.  To the outside world, the 
status of the negotiations may "look like a deadlock," but 
differences between the two nations have narrowed, and Bhutan 
has shown some flexibility.  Acharya met Bhutan's Foreign 
Secretary on the sidelines of the August 21-22 SAARC 
 
SIPDIS 
Ministerial in Kathmandu, and the discussion touched on the 
refugee issue, Acharya related.  The Prime Minister also 
raised the issue in a separate meeting with Bhutan's ForSec. 
 
3. (C) According to Acharya, in these most recent discussions 
Bhutan raised "legal problems," specifically, a national law 
in Bhutan that would require returned refugees to reapply for 
citizenship two years after their return to the country. 
(Note:  Word has already spread through the camps that Bhutan 
would insist that any returned refugee go through this 
process to reacquire citizenship, and refugee activists have 
expressed dismay over it in conversations with Poloff.  End 
Note.) 
 
Still No Date for Ministerial 
----------------------------- 
 
4. (C) The last formal round of bilateral talks occurred when 
the two countries' foreign secretaries met on November 6, 
2001.  Since the beginning of the year, Foreign Ministry 
officials in Kathmandu have told us repeatedly that the two 
sides are "constantly" in touch, but that a date for another 
round of talks has not yet been agreed on.  The GON has 
become increasingly frustrated by its inability to secure a 
date for the next round of talks with Bhutan.  Most recently, 
Nepal has offered to convene a secretary-level meeting in the 
absence of agreement on a date for a Ministerial. 
 
5. (C) Following the completion of verification interviews at 
the Khudunabari refugee camp in December, 2001, efforts to 
assign the refugees to four categories stalled due to 
disagreement over the fate of those placed in the category of 
"Bhutanese who left Bhutan voluntarily."  The next round of 
formal Nepal-Bhutan talks is expected to focus on efforts to 
"harmonize" positions on this issue.  In the meantime, there 
are no plans to begin to interview residents of the other 
camps, and the Nepali civil servants who were on the team 
that conducted the interviews have been reassigned elsewhere. 
 A UNHCR Protection Officer commented to us that failing to 
continue with verification interviews shows "a lack of 
commitment" all around. 
 
EU Urges Both Sides to Hurry Up 
------------------------------- 
 
6. (C) EU diplomats recently called on MFA officials to 
discuss the apparent standstill in negotiations.  The call 
followed an EU "fact-finding mission" to the camps.  Upon the 
mission's conclusion, the EU President sent letters to 
Nepal's Prime Minister (in his role as Foreign Minister) and 
Bhutan's Embassy in New Delhi.  The letters called on the two 
governments to speed up the process and to implement, without 
further delay, existing agreements on conducting verification 
interviews.  The EU now considers that "the ball is in 
Bhutan's court," a British Emboff told us after the letters 
were sent. 
 
Positive Signs, but Suspicions Remain 
------------------------------------- 
 
7. (C) A senior Nepalese diplomat who met with Bhutan's King 
during a recent private visit to Thimpu told the Ambassador 
that the meeting had made him optimistic that Bhutan was 
serious about taking people back.  Meanwhile, Foreign 
Ministry officials in Kathmandu have indicated to us, in 
strict confidence, that Nepal would be willing to allow some 
of the refugees to resettle within its borders (Reftel). 
However, a Kathmandu-based Amcit businessman with ties to 
Bhutan related to us his private conversation with the 
Bhutanese Foreign Minister, who admitted that Bhutan was 
stringing Nepal along, and hoped to maintain the diplomatic 
advantage so as not to have to grant any concessions. 
 
Bhutan's Charm Offensive 
------------------------ 
 
8. (C) Although Bhutan's leaders claim to be too busy to meet 
with their Nepalese counterparts, in recent months Thimpu has 
hosted visits by two prominent opposition figures:  Madhav 
Nepal, leader of Nepal's main opposition party, the Communist 
Party of Nepal--United Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), and Chakra 
Prasad Bastola, a former Foreign Minister and confidant of 
former Prime Minister G.P. Koirala.  The Foreign Ministry 
spokesperson told us that the government welcomed Bhutan's 
invitations to Bastola and Nepal, insisting that the visits 
could help move the process forward. 
 
9. (C) Madhav Nepal speculated that there could have been 
several reasons why Bhutan invited him to visit.  In the main 
he suspected that the Bhutanese did not like the ruling 
Nepali Congress Party (NCP), and wanted to drive a wedge 
between the Nepalese parties on this issue.  Madhav Nepal 
added that in his audience with Bhutan's King, the monarch 
had been very negative about UNHCR's role.  UNHCR's 
statistics were incorrect, the King asserted, and many camp 
residents were actually from India. 
 
Refugees Getting Restless 
------------------------- 
 
10. (SBU) Over the past nine months, camp residents have 
become restless awaiting the results of the verification 
interviews.  A delegation elected to represent the 
Khudunabari camp traveled to Kathmandu in June to circulate 
copies of a petition addressed to Nepali and Bhutanese heads 
of state.  The petition called for the two nations to declare 
the results of the verification exercise, commence 
verification interviews at the remaining camps, and begin 
repatriating verified refugees to Bhutan. 
 
11. (SBU) The delegation met with Poloff and also paid calls 
on UNHCR and the British, Japanese and Australian embassies. 
Ratan Gazmere, a Bhutanese refugee and activist recruited by 
camp leaders to help with their campaign, accompanied the 
delegation on its rounds.  He told Poloff that the refugees 
were "very frustrated" with the delay.  At a camp meeting the 
residents had made a collective decision that they "cannot 
sit by any longer" and had to do something. 
 
12. (SBU) Gazmere pointed out that the camp population is 
dynamic, and so much time has passed that many new families 
have formed as a result of marriages, births and deaths.  For 
that reason the data collected by the Joint Verification Team 
(JVT) on the basis of family groupings becomes less valid 
every day.  Before too long another round of verification 
interviews will be required to bring the information up to 
date, Gazmere insisted.  To force the Bhutanese to move the 
process forward, Gazmere suggested that the GON unilaterally 
announce the results of the verification interviews. 
13. (C) In recent months refugee activists have been 
publicizing studies purporting to prove that Bhutan has begun 
a program to resettle the refugees' lands in south Bhutan 
with Drukpa ethnics from the north.  The release of one such 
study, by the "Habitat International Coalition," was widely 
covered in the press.  These reports have further inflamed 
refugee sentiment.  One moderate refugee leader told Poloff 
August 29 that the refugees planned to "take action" to bring 
attention to their plight.  He assured us that these would be 
peaceful. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
14. (C) By stalling, both Bhutan and Nepal are looking to 
maximize their own advantage.  Bhutan hopes to exclude from 
repatriation the category of "Bhutanese who left Bhutan 
voluntarily," while Nepal wishes to rectify the mistake it 
made when it agreed to Bhutan's proposal establishing four 
separate categories.  Although the Nepalis are hesitant to 
declare the dialogue a "deadlock," the fact that the two 
sides have not held formal talks on the issue in nine months 
means that no progress is being made.  Meanwhile, the 
refugees are getting restless.  The camps have so far been 
peaceful, but the combination of frustration and restlessness 
could lead to discontent, violence, or worse--the creation of 
fertile recruitment grounds for the Maoists and other 
militants.  The USG and other donors have an interest in 
seeing the refugee crisis resolved quickly.  But without 
prolonged and consistent attention from the international 
community, the two nations are unlikely to get there on their 
own. 
MALINOWSKI