UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, MAY 31-JUNE 6

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001049 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 SUBJECT: UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, MAY 31-JUNE 6 REFERENCE (A) KATHMANDU 1033 (B) KATHMANDU 1032 (C) KATHMANDU 0860 SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. Amid the controversy sparked by the appointment of a new Prime Minister on June 4 (Ref A),progress in peace talks remains stalled, with no date being set for the third round. A clash between security forces and Maoists on June 3 left one insurgent dead. Two Maoist leaders, Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, and Baburam Bhattarai, have called the changes in government a tactic by the Government of Nepal (GON) to delay peace talks, and lashed out at the United States for interfering. Bhattarai told a vernacular newspaper on June 3 that he was skeptical of success in the peace talks. A joint patrol team of police and Royal Nepal Army (RNA) personnel arrested several Maoists in Taplejung District on June 2. In defiance of the code of conduct, Maoists reportedly have abducted eleven civilians, including a school principal, increased extortion campaigns, closed down a school for deaf children, and halted the production of rice and flour mills. The GON released nineteen more Maoist cadres from custody. End Summary. CLASH LEAVES ONE MAOIST DEAD -------------- ¶2. A Maoist cadre was killed on June 3 in the eastern district of Ramechhap following a brief clash with Royal Nepal Army (RNA) troops. According to an army spokesman, security personnel stationed at the Khimti Hydroelectric Project came under attack by a group of twenty armed insurgents and returned fire. On June 4 Maoist cadres staged a protest against the RNA in Kathmandu after the RNA reportedly refused to release to them the body of their fallen comrade. According to reports, the body was still being examined. PRACHANDA WANTS U.S. OUT OF NEPAL -------------- ¶3. In several polemic press releases, Maoist Supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal (alias Prachanda),accused foreign forces, particularly America, of masterminding the change in government as an attempt to further their own interests. In a press release on June 5, Prachanda called the latest political move regressive, and instigated by foreign forces. In an earlier statement issued on June 2 highlighting his party's newest manifesto, Prachanda condemned U.S. interference in Nepal and called for support to "resist American plans to control South Asia," under the slogan of "Americans out of Nepal." Prachanda has issued a flurry of statements throughout the week which criticize the purported growing influence of the USG on the Government of Nepal (GON) (Ref B). The Maoist Chairman also charged that foreign forces had a hand in the refusal of the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) to restrict its troops movements to within a five- kilometer radius of their barracks (Ref C). Prachanda declared that the Maoists' stance towards the new government would be the same as it was towards Former Prime Minister Chand's government, and reiterated his party's demand for a new constitution. MAOISTS ACCUSE GON OF DELAY TACTICS -------------- ¶4. On June 2 Baburam Bhattarai, head of the Maoist talk team, called former Prime Minister Chand's resignation a "trick to derail" the peace talks, and voiced speculation about their success. In an interview with a vernacular newspaper on June 3, Bhattarai said that foreign forces had hindered peace efforts under Chand's government and were likely to do the same under the new government. The Maoist ideologue also demanded that the agreements reached during the second round be implemented immediately, despite the change in government. ¶5. Ram Bahadur Thapa, alias Badal, military chief of the Maoists and member of the Maoist negotiating team, also lambasted the change in government as a move to derail the peace talks, and claimed that foreign influence was behind the decision. Badal, speaking to reporters on May 31, warned of "serious consequences" if the peace talks failed, and said the current political situation could turn explosive. HYPOCRISY OF MAOISTS CRITICIZED -------------- ¶6. Several recent editorials in local newspapers have condemned the hypocrisy of the Maoists. In one such editorial, published in the June 6 edition of The Kathmandu Post, the writer flays the Maoists for disrupting the education of school children, particularly in highly regarded private Christian schools, which have threatened to leave Nepal after fifty years of teaching. The editorial highlights the fact that education has been a victim of the insurgency, and the insurgents are "ruining the future generation of the nation and extinguishing the light of education." Other editorials have criticized senior Maoist leaders, particularly Bhattarai and Prachanda, for destroying the education system in Nepal, while sending their own children to study out of the country. INSURGENTS CONTINUE TO DEFY CEASEFIRE -------------- ¶7. As senior-level Maoist leaders hurl accusations of violating the ceasefire against the GON, their Maoist cadres continue to defy it themselves. In blatant disregard of the code of conduct, insurgents abducted four schoolchildren, two of whom were girls, on June 3 in Dailekh District. In the same district, the body of a man who had been abducted by Maoists was found hanging from a tree on June 4. The insurgents also abducted two civilians from Salyan District on May 30, and abducted a school principal and an accountant from Sindhuli District on June 3, reportedly for their refusal to donate money to the insurgents. Three civilians in Parbat District were abducted by Maoists on May 31 after being accused by the insurgents of assaulting one of their cadres. Their whereabouts remain unknown. ¶8. In the central district of Palpa Maoists reportedly have increased extortion campaigns targeting teachers, merchants and local villagers. The insurgents have also stepped up demands for food and accommodations, terrorizing those who refuse. Press accounts from that area report that the district has become a haven for Maoists, and is avoided even by security personnel. The insurgents forced the closure of a rice and flour mill in Hetauda District after the owner refused to donate fifty percent of his earnings to the Maoists. In the mid-western district of Jajarkot, the insurgents admittedly are on an extortion spree, declaring that since the army is allowed to continue patrols, the Maoists are allowed to collect "donations" from "supporters." ¶9. Maoists in Myagdi District apparently are ignoring their own rhetoric of fighting for access to education for all. The insurgents have forced the closure of a school for deaf children after claiming the school did not have the Maoists' permission to run the program. Organizers of the program have condemned the action as a blatant violation of the ceasefire. STUDENT UNIONS FORCE CLOSURE OF SCHOOLS -------------- ¶10. Educational institutions continue to feel the pressure of student protests despite numerous concessions made to the agitating groups. A coalition of seven student unions, including The All Nepal National Independent Students' Union- Revolutionary (ANNISU-R),the Maoist affiliated student wing, locked up campuses and universities throughout the Kathmandu Valley on June 6. The students are demanding the unconditional release of their imprisoned members, and have also called for a nationwide closure of schools. The student unions have threatened to lock all Village Development Committee (VDC) offices and administration offices indefinitely from June 8 if the students in detention are not released. A meeting scheduled for June 6 with the Ministry of Education was boycotted by the student unions for what they called the unjust arrests of their cadres. ANNISU-R members have already forced government schools to return admission fees to students in Nuwakot District, but continue to create new demands. MAOIST PRISONERS RELEASED -------------- ¶11. As part of the ceasefire agreement, the GON has gradually been releasing Maoist cadres from detention. Fifteen Maoists were released from jail in Bardia District on May 31, and six others released from detention in Taplejung and Kapilvastu Districts. BOGGS