Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
02KATHMANDU1640
2002-08-22 13:12:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:  

UPDATE ON MAOIST INSURGENCY: JULY-AUGUST 2002

Tags:  PTER PGOV MCAP NP 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001640 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS
STATE ALSO PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA
MANILA FOR USAID DCHA/OFDA
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/21/2012
TAGS: PTER PGOV MCAP NP
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON MAOIST INSURGENCY: JULY-AUGUST 2002

REF: A. (A) KATHMANDU 1174


B. (B) KATHMANDU 1315

C. (C) KATHMANDU 1373

D. (D) KATHMANDU 1408

E. (E) KATHMANDU 1532

F. (F) KATHMANDU 1619

Classified By: DCM ROBERT K. BOGGS. REASON: 1.5(B,D).

--------
SUMMARY
---------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001640

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS
STATE ALSO PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA
MANILA FOR USAID DCHA/OFDA
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/21/2012
TAGS: PTER PGOV MCAP NEPAL'>NP
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON MAOIST INSURGENCY: JULY-AUGUST 2002

REF: A. (A) KATHMANDU 1174


B. (B) KATHMANDU 1315

C. (C) KATHMANDU 1373

D. (D) KATHMANDU 1408

E. (E) KATHMANDU 1532

F. (F) KATHMANDU 1619

Classified By: DCM ROBERT K. BOGGS. REASON: 1.5(B,D).

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (U) This message highligts significant events in the
Maoist insurgency since July. On August 21 the Royal NEPAL
Army (RNA) attacked a Maoist training camp in Rolpa,
reportedly killing 30 insurgents. Maoists continue to attack
civilians and rural infrastructure, but staged no large-scale
attacks on RNA or police during the period. Pledging to
disrupt national elections in November, the insurgents have
begun a campaign of threats and intimidation in some areas.
The Government of India continues its cooperation in cracking
down on Maoists believed to be operating in its territory.
Interpol issued an international alert on several wanted
Maoists. On August 19 a member of the Maoists' Joint
Revolutionary Council surrendered to the National Human
Rights Commission. End summary.

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RNA OFFENSIVE IN ROLPA
--------------


2. (C) Acting on intelligence in the largest offensive
engagement since an attack on a Maoist training camp in
Salyan on June 12 (Ref A),on August 21 the Royal NEPAL Army
(RNA) attacked a Maoist base in Thawang, Rolpa--the heartland
of the insurgency--with two company-sized units
(approximately 300 soldiers). According to initial reports,
the RNA suffered one soldier killed in action and three
wounded. At least 30 Maoists were reported killed, and five
Enfield 303 rifles and large quantities of rice were
recovered from the site. From July 1 to August 22, 2002, the
Ministry of Defense reports a total of 193 Maoists killed by
security forces.

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MAOIST ATTACKS ON CIVILIAN TARGETS
--------------


3. (C) Although the Maoists have not staged any large-scale
attacks on the security forces since May, the insurgents'
campaign against civilian targets continues. Most observers

expect the level of violence to increase as September 16--the
date of a Maoist-proclaimed general strike--approaches (Ref
C). Maoists reportedly have killed at least 18 civilians
during the period, including three teachers, one newspaper
editor, and 10 mainstream party activists. On July 10 a
horde of several hundred Maoists attacked a village in
southwestern NEPAL, killing two men suspected of being
informants and beating other villagers with iron rods. On
August 1 Maoists abducted three NEPALi civilians, including
an employee of the British Gurkha Welfare organization and a
radio announcer, from a bus in Rolpa. Other passengers were
beaten and robbed. To date, the kidnapping victims'
whereabouts remain unknown. On August 12 in southern NEPAL
insurgents killed former Maoist Tek Bahadur Thapa Magar, who
had surrendered to the authorities. On August 16, a band of
Maoists in western NEPAL hacked to death Manohar Pratap
Malla, the son of a former minister during the Panchayat
regime. On August 20 Maoists killed Nawaraj Sharma, editor
of a local newspaper in the mid-west district of Kalikot.



4. (U) The insurgents continue violent activities within the
capital, albeit with more limited effect. On July 5 Maoists
set off a bomb at the Prime Minister's NEPALi Congress party
office (Ref B),injuring ten, and at a private business
college--owned by the Press Secretary for the Royal
Palace--August 8, injuring six (Ref E). The insurgents have
also kept up their attacks on local infrastructure, destoying
the only Sanskrit school in eastern NEPAL's Taplejung
District with a socket bomb August 12. They disrupted
transportation between the remote northern districts of Humla
and Mugu with the destruction of a suspension bridge. On
August 15 Maoists blew up the only power station in the
capital of far northwestern Darchula District, leaving nearly
1500 families with no electricity and crippling the local
economy.

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ANTI-ELECTORAL ACTIVITIES
--------------


5. (U) The Chief District Officers (CDO) of Pyuthan and
Gorkha Districts in NEPAL's mid-western hill region report
Maoists have begun propagating anti-election slogans in local
villages, spreading terror among the residents. The CDO in
Nawalaparasi District in southern NEPAL reports similar
activities in the northern hilly belt of his jurisdiction.
The level of actual intimidation is undoubtedly much higher.
In the Kathmandu Valley, for example, one resident of
Lalitpur District told emboff that Maoists had visited every
household in his electoral ward to warn residents not to vote
in the November 13 national elections.

--------------
INDIAN COOPERATION
--------------


6. (SBU) Critical to the Government of NEPAL's (GON)
relative success in countering the Maoists has been
increasing and long-needed support from India, which shares
1600 km of border with NEPAL (Ref D). The Indian government
has banned the All Indian-NEPALi Unity Society, an
organization affiliated with NEPALi Maoists, and in July
cooperated in the arrest and extradition of nine Maoists
wanted in NEPAL. On July 10 the Indian Charge told the
NEPAL-India Friendship Association that his government will
deploy members of India's Special Service Bureau to patrol
the border in an effort to control Maoist and other
cross-border criminal activities. On August 10 the NEPALi
press reported Indian schools in some districts along the
NEPALi border had been instructed not to register NEPALi
students who lack GON-issued identification. The Indians
also staged a raid on a Maoist-occupied apartment in
Darjeeling.

--------------
INTERPOL COOPERATION
--------------


7. (U) At the request of the GON, Interpol issued an
all-points bulletin against eight Maoists, including top
leaders Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai and head of the
Maoist student group Debendra Parajuli. (The NEPALi press
noted the Interpol website had inadvertently transposed
Bhattarai's and Prachanda's pictures.) Also on the list:
Agni Sapkota, one of the insurgents' negotiators who met with
GON representatives three times during the 2001 ceasefire.
NEPALi police said they have asked Interpol to add other
names to the list, including that of the Maoists' putative
military commander, Ram Bahadur Thapa (a.k.a. "Badal").

--------------
NOTABLE SURRENDER
--------------


8. (U) Mukti Pradhan, on the GON's most-wanted list as a
member of the Maoists' Joint Revolutionary Council,
surrendered to the National Human Rights Commission on August
19 (Ref F). Pradhan's surrender is the first by a suspect on
the most-wanted list. The GON had offered a USD 45,000
reward for information leading to his arrest. In all, the
GON reports that nearly 16,000 former Maoists have
surrendered. (Note: It seems likely that a good number of
those who surrendered were not armed militants but rather
former members of "people's governments" in areas previously
under Maoist control. End note.) About 5400 suspected
Maoists are reported to be in GON custody.

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COMMENT
--------------


9. (C) The general perception within the GON and among many
observers is that the Maoists, who have staged no major
action against the security forces since May, are on the
defensive. Cooperation from neighboring India has been
particularly significant in helping the clampdown and in
ratcheting up the pressure on the insurgents' leadership.
Most observers expect the Maoists' small-scale attacks
against civilian targets, including bombings and possible
assassination attempts against senior government offials, to
increase in tempo as the dates of the September 16 general
strike and the November 13 national elections near. The
Rolpa operation indicates the RNA's evolving ability to use
intelligence successfully and to seize the offensive from the
Maoists.
MALINOWSKI