US embassy cable - 03KATHMANDU1295

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 001295 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SA/INS, INR 
 
SECRET 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/04/2013 
TAGS: WFP 
SUBJECT: NEPAL: WORLD FOOD PROGRAM DEALS WITH MAOISTS AND 
GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION 
 
REF: KATHMANDU 1221 
 
Classified By: DCM Robert Boggs for Reasons 1.5 (b,d). 
 
1. (S) Summary.  The World Food Program (WFP) in Nepal has 
been operating in the most heavily Maoist-affected areas in 
Nepal since the last quarter of 2002.  WFP Director 
Joergensen reports that through April 2003, the cease-fire 
had enabled villagers and traders to travel freely, 
increasing access to food in Maoist-controlled areas.  WFP 
field officers do, however, encounter frequent difficulties 
with Maoist cadres.  Since May 2003, Director Joergensen 
began receiving reports from the field of heightened security 
and increased travel restrictions by the Maoists.  Anecdotal 
evidence suggests that the Maoist organization is 
well-coordinated, with a sophisticated intelligence gathering 
network.  WFP Nepal has also encountered trouble with central 
and district level government corruption, which has resulted 
in their filing of four legal cases with the Commission to 
Investigate Abuses of Authority (CIAA).  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) The World Food Program (WFP) in Nepal is one of two 
UN-based agencies (the other is UNICEF) working daily in the 
most heavily Maoist-affected areas in the country.  Because 
government corruption had been preventing the efficient 
delivery of food to high-risk areas, shortly after her 
arrival in August 2002 WFP Director Erika Joergensen 
decentralized WFP's Nepal program to the district level. 
Today WFP employs 24 Nepali field officers in 30 of Nepal's 
75 districts and staffs four regional offices, including one 
in Kathmandu.  WFP programs focus on rural community 
infrastructure building, such as road construction and 
irrigation projects, mother and child heath and nutrition, 
and food for education initiatives.  WFP also provides the 
food for 100,000 Bhutanese refugees in seven camps in Eastern 
Nepal.  Most recently, WFP received permission from the 
Government of Nepal to implement a Quick Impact Program.  The 
program will mobilize 1,500 tons of food for ten districts 
with heightened levels of food insecurity, often caused by 
Maoist insurgents restricting villagers' access to markets. 
These districts are Humla, Mugu, Dolpa, Rukum, Rolpa, 
Jajarkot, Kalikot, Jumla, Bajura, and Bajhang. 
 
3. (SBU) In its January through March quarterly report, WFP 
Nepal reported that the cease-fire has largely been holding 
without major incident.  A modicum of peace and stability has 
returned to districts that had been highly influenced by 
insurgent activities.  There has been increased freedom of 
movement for both people and commodities.  As a result, many 
people who had left villages because of security concerns 
reportedly have been returning and, in some cases, police and 
Royal Nepal Army soldiers have been able to visit their 
families at the village level after long absences.  However, 
significant apprehension remains in the western districts of 
Nepal that peace talks will not produce results.  In May, WFP 
field officers began reporting stepped-up security and 
increased travel restrictions by the Maoists. 
 
------------------------ 
Dealing with the Maoists 
------------------------ 
 
4. (S) Working primarily in heavily Maoist-affected areas, 
the field officers encounter frequent difficulties in 
implementing WFP programs.  From the beginning, Joergensen 
required her field officers to spend the first month 
introducing themselves to district-level government 
officials, NGOs and the Maoists so that all parties would be 
aware of WFP's programs and objectives.  This approach has 
enabled her field officers to move freely in areas that are 
otherwise heavily restricted by the Maoists.  The only 
district that remains largely inaccessible is Kalikot, where 
the Maoist district commander reportedly is uncooperative and 
violent. 
 
5. (S) However, according to Director Joergensen, the Maoists 
have attempted to intimidate WFP field officers and to steal 
food and equipment from WFP.  In Western Nepal's Bajura 
District, Maoists seized the local WFP officer and detained 
him for ten days, she said.  During his detention, he was 
taken to the Maoist district commander's tent in the jungle. 
Although they had never met, the commander pondered for a few 
minutes, wondering where he had seen the WFP officer before. 
Asking his subordinate for a file, the commander pulled out a 
paper with the field officer's photograph and biographic 
information, including his year of birth and previous 
employment. 
6. (S) More frequently, Maoist cadres steal WFP food supplies 
either to eat or sell for cash, Joergensen reported.  When 
this has happened, WFP has shut down its program in the area 
and explained to the residents that until the goods are 
returned, the program could not continue.  Surprisingly, the 
Maoists typically have returned what they did not eat or sell 
and, in some cases, worked off the rest.  Clearly, WFP is 
providing necessary goods for the very poor and 
underprivileged people that the Maoist organization claims to 
be supporting. 
 
---------------------- 
Government Corruption 
---------------------- 
 
7. (S) Prior to decentralizing its operations, WFP 
experienced significant setbacks with Government of Nepal 
(GON) cooperation.  WFP provides 100 percent funding for all 
food distributed in Nepal and 50 percent of the 
transportation cost, with the GON contributing the other 50 
percent.  Joergensen learned soon after her arrival that much 
of WFP's transportation fund was not being drawn upon by the 
GON for the transportation and delivery of food.  She later 
discovered that government officials at both the central and 
district levels had been stealing food and selling it for 
their own personal profit.  On the basis of these complaints, 
Joergensen has filed four cases, which are now pending, with 
the Commission to Investigate Abuses of Authority (CIAA). 
(Note: The CIAA is a GON agency mandated with investigating 
allegations of government corruption (reftel).  End Note.) 
 
8. (C) WFP Nepal has also encountered less serious, but still 
troublesome, cases of government corruption.  For example, 
district-level officials were directing WFP to contract the 
transportation and food distribution to businesses owned by 
family and friends.  Within the central government, officials 
in the Ministries of Finance, Agriculture and Local 
Development would request training abroad ostensibly to learn 
how the French, for example, run school lunch programs. 
After WFP denied their requests, Director Joergensen 
explained, Ministry officials would "stop working on WFP 
programs." 
 
---------- 
Comment 
---------- 
 
9. (S) Through the WFP field officers' encounters with 
Maoists in western Nepal, it appears that the insurgents are 
well-coordinated and very well-informed.  Most district 
commanders appear to be staying 'on message' by allowing WFP 
to operate relatively unhindered, distributing food to the 
most needy, even in predominantly Maoist-controlled areas. 
The WFP's experience of increasing Maoist restrictions on 
travel are consistent with reports from other aid agencies of 
rising levels of Maoist extortion and threats agains local 
development workers.  End Comment. 
 
 
MALINOWSKI