MAOISTS SEND LETTER TO AMERICANS ON PM'S VISIT

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000893 SIPDIS STATE FOR SA/INS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PTER PGOV OVIP PREL NP SUBJECT: MAOISTS SEND LETTER TO AMERICANS ON PM'S VISIT ¶1. Local media outlets received by e-mail the afternoon of May 7 a letter from the International Department of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) addressed "To Our Friends in America." A copy of the letter has been faxed to SA/INS. ¶2. The three-page letter, written in turgid but grammatically correct English, is dated May 6--the day of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's arrival in Washington. Its release by e-mail the following day may have been timed to coincide with the PM's May 7 call on President Bush in the Oval Office. The letter warns readers that Deuba's true motive is "to beg for massive US military and financial assistance to crush the popular people's democratic movement." Since Secretary Powell's January visit to Nepal "the US administration has been systematically building the case for a massive armed intervention and creation of a permanent military base in Nepal (apparently to take on China and India in the long run)." The real purpose of Deuba's visit, the letter charges, is "to formally initiate a long term US military engagement in Nepal." ¶3. The text compares Maoist demands for formation of an interim government, a constituent assembly, and a republic to the "common demands of every bourgeois democratic revolution, from Europe to Americas to anywhere." Contrary to Government propaganda, the Maoists do not intend to impose a one-party dictatorship, the letter continues, but will instead guarantee the freedom to contest elections to all political parties. Recalling Prachanda's May 1 statement on the possibility of future dialogue, the letter asks why Deuba is seeking foreign military assistance when "all the parliamentary political parties and civil society" are calling for a negotiated political settlement. The success of the April 23-27 general strike attests to the popularity of the Maoist movement, the letter claims, adding that the Royal Nepal Army has "been thoroughly defeated in every real encounter" with the Maoists. ¶4. In the closing paragraphs the letter calls upon "class brothers and sisters in the USA, the most powerful and dangerous imperialist power on earth" to foment "revolution in the belly of the beast and stop it from intervening in the revolutionary processes elsewhere." ¶5. A local journalist who has previously received English e-mail transmissions from the Maoists' second- highest leader, Baburam Bhattarai, said he saw some similarities in the style and fluency in English of this letter. He noted that the letter made no reference to the Maoists' apparently stunning defeat in Rolpa over the past week (May 2-6). He said he could not tell from where the message had been sent or who the other addressees were. ¶6. Comment: Even the mainstream local press and some prominent national politicians have been engaged in wild speculation recently about USG military aims in Nepal. The Maoists may thus have calculated that their accusations regarding ulterior US goals might resonate with local audiences. Deuba's success in securing the May 7 Oval Office appointment has piqued and irritated many of his political rivals; the Maoists apparently are also worried. The length of this letter--one of the more comprehensive recent efforts by the Maoists to explain and justify themselves--and its emphasis on the their purported willingness to resume dialogue may indicate just how worried they are. MALINOWSKI