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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 001049

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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.

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