US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU901

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 000901 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/IP/NEA 
STATE ALSO PLEASE PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
STATE ALSO PLEASE PASS PEACE CORPS HQ 
USAID FOR ANE/AA GORDON WEST AND JIM BEVER 
MANILA FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
LONDON FOR POL/RIEDEL 
TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL/DAUFHAUSER AND DAS JZARATE 
TREASURY ALSO FOR OFAC/RNEWCOMB AND TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST 
FINANCING 
JUSTICE FOR OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL/DLAUFMAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PINS, PTER, CASC, PGOV, NP, Maoist Insurgency 
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, May 10-15 
 
REFERENCE:  KATHMANDU 0860 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1.  The second round of peace talks between negotiators for 
the Government of Nepal (GON) and Maoists was held on May 9 
(Reftel).  International envoys continue to express support 
and hope for successful peace talks.  The Royal Nepal Army 
(RNA) says it will not accept limitations on its patrolling. 
Maoist recruitment of children continues despite denials by 
a senior Maoist leader.  Extortion, abduction, looting and 
physical assault by the Maoists continue despite their 
public claims to be abiding by the ceasefire.  Thousands of 
people defied Maoist orders to attend free health camps set 
up by the Royal Nepal Army (RNA).  The All Nepal National 
Independent Students' Union- Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) locked 
the accounting offices of various schools in protest of high 
tuition fees.  End summary. 
 
SECOND ROUND OF TALKS HELD 
-------------------------- 
 
2.  The second round of peace talks between negotiators for 
the GON and Maoists was held on May 9 (Reftel).  Krishna 
Bahadur Mahara, Maoist spokesman, told reporters at the 
conclusion of the talks that they had taken "a positive 
turn," while Narayan Singh Pun, Minister of Physical 
Planning and Works and government negotiating team member, 
termed them a "historic success."  Maoist representatives 
used the second round to present additional demands, while 
the GON still has not presented its agenda. Minister Pun 
said the GON's agenda would be discussed only after the 
Maoists' demands were sorted out.  (Comment:  Considering 
the Maoist penchant for seemingly endless demands, it is 
difficult to say when the GON's agenda will surface.)  The 
second round concluded with the GON, yet again, conceding to 
several more Maoist demands, apparently including limiting 
the movement of the army to within a three-mile radius of 
their barracks, and agreeing to release three Central 
Committee Members still imprisoned.  (Note:  The Maoists had 
demanded the release of five of their Central Committee 
Members as a pre-condition for peace talks.  The GON has 
already released two.  End Note). No date has been set for 
the next round. 
 
SUPPORT AND SKEPTICISM FOR PEACE TALKS 
-------------------------------------- 
 
3.  With the completion of the second round of talks, 
members of the international community have become more 
vocal in expressing hope and support for a peaceful 
solution.  Ingrid Ofstad, Ambassador of Norway to Nepal, 
expressed hope that some of Nepal's social and economic 
problems could be resolved now that the peace talks appeared 
to be progressing.  Asko Luukkhainen, Charge d'Affairs of 
the Embassy of Finland, said he was confident that the peace 
talks would be a success, declaring that his government 
"welcomed the negotiations." 
 
4.  Official peace talk facilitators, however, apparently do 
not share this optimism.  Padma Ratna Tuladhar and Daman 
Nath Dhungana, both facilitators in the current talks as 
well as the failed talks in 2001, reportedly have expressed 
concern over the lack of participation from political 
parties, civil society and human rights activists.  Tuladhar 
and Dhungana, speaking at a human rights symposium on May 
10, cautioned that the talks could flounder. 
 
RNA REJECTS RESTRICTIONS 
------------------------ 
 
5.  Controversy has surrounded the supposed deal made 
between the GON and the Maoists to limit the movement of the 
Royal Nepal Army (RNA).  Amidst strong protests from the 
RNA, some government officials have denied that a deal was 
struck, and members of the RNA have said they will not 
accept the deal.  Colonel Deepak Gurung, RNA spokesman, said 
on May 14 that the army will continue patrolling as usual. 
Gurung reiterated that the Maoists still pose a threat to 
security, and that the RNA would not restrict itself to a 
three-mile radius until it recovered all of the looted 
weapons from the insurgents.  Gurung also told the DCM that 
he had not received any official word from the GON on the 
restrictions. 
 
6.  According to local press reports, senior officers in the 
RNA have also refused to acknowledge the deal made between 
the GON and the Maoists, and have strongly condemned the 
GON's decision.  A local publication quoted an unnamed army 
official on May 11 as saying that the decision should have 
been made by the Defense Council (comprised of the Prime 
Minister, Defense Minister and Chief of the Army) and not by 
"a few ministers."   Other top officers were quoted as 
saying the army will never accept the deal, declaring that 
it jeopardizes national security.  Dev Gurung, a politburo 
member of the Maoists, however, said the RNA was simply 
trying to establish military rule.  Minister Pun, in 
response to press inquiries on May 11 about the 
restrictions, was quick to point out that it would take time 
to implement. 
 
 
FORMER CHILD SOLDIERS SPEAK OUT AS MAOIST 
LEADER DENIES RECRUITING CHILDREN 
----------------------------------------- 
 
7.  Partha Chettri, a Maoist leader recently released from 
prison, dismissed allegations of child recruitment by the 
Maoists as "war propaganda."  His denials directly contrast 
with the admissions made by Maoist cadres in the eastern 
district of Panchthar, who claim that they recruited youths 
as recently as May 14 to join militant ranks.  Press reports 
from the district quoted a Maoist leader as saying that 
seventeen youths were taken from their families for the 
purpose of serving in the "People's War."  Chettri's 
denials, issued on May 11, also come at a time when many 
child soldiers who had been underground are returning home. 
A vernacular publication, which conducted interviews with 
former child soldiers from the far-western district of 
Kalikot, reports that that district alone had three hundred 
child soldiers, some of whom were as young as eight years, 
and who reportedly were ready to resume fighting if peace 
talks fail.  A ten-year-old child who joined the Maoist 
insurgency two years ago told the publication that there 
were "hundreds of children like me." Although many of them 
spoke of being willing to return to the jungle if the peace 
talks failed, most said they had endured "unimaginable 
hardships" as soldiers, and hoped that they would never have 
to pick up a gun again. 
 
MAOIST VIOLATIONS RAMPANT 
------------------------- 
 
8.  A report released on May 9 that was compiled by local 
district security committees documents widespread and 
rampant ceasefire violations by Maoists.  According to the 
report, Maoist violations include extortion; holding mass 
meetings while armed; abduction of civilians, including 
women and children; forcing families to attend public 
gatherings; assault; disruption of infrastructure 
reconstruction projects and postal operations; and extorting 
money from tourists. 
 
9.  Maoists reportedly have stepped up their recruitment in 
the far-western district of Accham, along with increased 
extortion and looting of money and food.  The insurgents 
have also reportedly locked up the Village Development 
Committee (VDC) offices in Bardiya and Salyan Districts, 
causing government workers to shut down operations and flee. 
Maoists have also carried out looting sprees in Bardiya, 
stealing wheat, lentils and other cash crops that were being 
transported after harvest.  Many of the villagers have fled 
the region as a result. In Kailali District the insurgents 
reportedly threatened to break the hands and legs of people 
who interfered with their looting of forestry offices. 
 
10.  Maoists continue to target innocent civilians, 
abducting thirteen people from various districts. The 
insurgents claim some of the victims were taken on suspicion 
of stealing, but no reason was given for the kidnapping of 
others, including a district secretary for the Communist 
Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML). 
 
11.  Extortion campaigns by the Maoists are not limited to 
locals.  The Nepal Association of Rafting Agents (NARA) 
claims that the insurgents still demand money from tourists 
and agents who want to raft on rivers in areas where Maoists 
operate.  Mahendra Singh Thapa, President of NARA, said the 
exactions have continued despite the ceasefire, with 
tourists being forced to pay a twenty-dollar "donation" to 
the insurgents.  The rafting industry has been especially 
hard hit by the Maoist insurgency, with the number of 
rafting agencies dwindling from seventy to thirty-six. 
 
RNA HOLDS HEALTH CAMPS 
---------------------- 
 
12.  Thousands of people defied a Maoist ban to attend free 
health camps set up by the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) in some of 
the hardest hit mid-western districts.  Over ten thousand 
people reportedly received medical assistance in the 
districts of Dang, Salyan, Rukum and Rolpa.  Maoists in 
those regions reportedly ordered villagers not to attend the 
camps, proclaiming them to be in violation of the ceasefire. 
The Insurgents also threatened villagers on their way to the 
camps, and cut off the drinking water supply to health camps 
in Salyan District.  The RNA says it has no plans to 
discontinue the health camps, and is organizing similar 
programs in other remote districts of the mid- and far- 
western regions. 
 
ANNISU-R LOCKS ACCOUNTING OFFICES 
--------------------------------- 
 
13.  The All Nepal National Independent Students' Union- 
Revolutionary (ANNISU-R), the Maoist affiliated student 
wing, carried out their threat to lock the accounting 
offices of various private schools.  The militant students 
began the lockouts on May 9 as a protest against 
"unreasonable" fees charged by private institutions.  The 
lockouts continued with the shutdown of two accounting 
offices at schools in Bara District on May 12.  While 
classes were not disrupted, the students warned that they 
would impose indefinite strikes on the schools if their 
concerns were not taken seriously.  Officials at the Bara 
schools said they were forced to raise fees because money 
provided by the GON was insufficient. 
 
BOGGS