MAOISTS KILL NGO WORKER; MORE WFP SUSPENSIONS

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
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
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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
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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
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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