Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03KATHMANDU128
2003-01-24 08:02:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:  

NEPAL: FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN BHUTANESE REFUGEE

Tags:  PREF PREL NP BT UNHCR 
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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 02 KATHMANDU 000128 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/2013
TAGS: PREF PREL NP BT UNHCR
SUBJECT: NEPAL: FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN BHUTANESE REFUGEE
SITUATION

REF: A. (A) GENEVA 0253

B. (B) NEW DELHI 0388

C. (C) STATE 16356

D. (D) KATHMANDU 0041 (NOTAL)

E. (E) NEW DELHI 0023 (NOTAL)

Classified By: AMB. MICHAEL E. MALINOWSKI. REASON: 1.5 (B,D).

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000128

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/23/2013
TAGS: PREF PREL NP BT UNHCR
SUBJECT: NEPAL: FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS IN BHUTANESE REFUGEE
SITUATION

REF: A. (A) GENEVA 0253

B. (B) NEW DELHI 0388

C. (C) STATE 16356

D. (D) KATHMANDU 0041 (NOTAL)

E. (E) NEW DELHI 0023 (NOTAL)

Classified By: AMB. MICHAEL E. MALINOWSKI. REASON: 1.5 (B,D).

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


1. (C) Foreign Minister Narendra Bikram Shah returns on
January 28 from an unofficial visit to Bhutan to discuss the
refugee issue with his counterpart. Shah said he believes
the visit presents a window of opportunity to secure a
bilateral resolution to the problem. The EU representative
in Kathmandu expressed deep skepticism that Bhutan is serious
about resolving the problem and noted that many European
donors are reluctant to use their leverage to pressure the
kingdom on refugee repatriation. He welcomed the idea,
however, of the EU and USG working out a joint position to
encourage progress before the Feb. 17 donors' meeting in
Geneva. The Indian Embassy has expressed dismay at U.S.
activism on the refugee matter. End summary.

--------------
DISAGREEMENT OVER CITIZENSHIP
--------------


2. (SBU) On January 22 the Ambassador and DCM conveyed Ref
C talking points to Foreign Minister Narendra Bikram Shah and
to Foreign Secretary Madhu Raman Acharya respectively. Shah
left for an "unofficial" visit to Bhutan to discuss the
refugee issue with his counterpart oon January 23. (Note:
The low-key visit, which was originally supposed to be
confidential, was touted in a MFA press release upon his

SIPDIS
departure as an effort toward progress on the refugee
situation. End note.) Upon his return to Kathmandu on
January 28, the Minister will brief the Ambassador on
developments.


3. (C) Both Shah and Acharya stressed that they believe the
Minister's visit presents a window of opportunity for
movement on this contentious issue. Shah is hopeful that a
bilateral agreement can be reached by Nepal and Bhutan. If
successful, Shah would look for international support to make
the agreement work. Acharya said he believes the Nepalis and
Bhutanese are "just one word away" from reaching an
agreement. The text proposed by the Nepalis says that the

Government of Nepal (GON) will accept Bhutanese not returning
to Bhutan for resettlement "according to Nepali law." The
Bhutanese, however, insist that the text be amended to read
"according to Nepali citizenship law." The issue of
citizenship is politically charged in Nepal for a number of
reasons, Acharya observed, including the large volume of
pending claims from Hindi-speaking residents of the southern
plains of Indian parentage. The GON is thus unlikely to
accede to the Bhutanese demand to change the language, the
Foreign Secretary concluded.

--------------
THE VIEW FROM THE EU
--------------


4. (C) On January 23 the DCM called on EU Charge Rudiger
Wenk to elicit his views on likely donor positions at the
upcoming February 17 conference in Geneva (Ref C). Wenk, who
has spent more than five years tracking the refugee issue
from New Delhi and Kathmandu, expressed deep-seated
skepticism that the Foreign Minister's visit to Bhutan will
result in significant progress to break the logjam. The
Bhutanese will doubtless say very positive things during the
visit, he predicted, but will undertake no follow-up actions.
Thimpu has no incentive to make concessions, he observed,
and benefits by deferring substantive action toward a
resolution. Many EU member states that are donors to Bhutan
are nonetheless reluctant to put pressure on Thimpu,
believing that continued Western support is necessary to
counterbalance perceived Indian influence and preclude the
"Sikkimization" of Bhutan. Even if the donors did decide to
use their influence to urge a solution to the refugee
problem, Wenk said Bhutan is unlikely to prove susceptible to
such pressure because its dependence on foreign aid is fairly
limited. That said, the French Government has succeeded in
putting the refugee issue on the agenda for the Feb. 17 donor
meeting, he added.


5. (C) As an example of dismissive attitudes displayed by
the Government of Bhutan (GOB) toward donor views, Wenk
reported that Thimpu has never given the EU Commission a copy
of the first--and only--verification exercise conducted at a
refugee camp, even though the EU paid the USD 300,000 tab for
the undertaking. EU funds supporting the refugee camps in
Nepal are set to run out in March, Wenk warned, so the EU
Commission is eager to see a resolution. Although the
Government of Denmark, when serving as head of the EU, sent a
letter to both the GOB and GON urging a timely resolution to
the problem, no reply from either government has been
received, Wenk reported. (Note: The Danish Charge recently
told us that Denmark received little support from its
European colleagues when it tried to bring pressure on Bhutan
over the refugee issue at last year's aid consortium. End
note.)


6. (SBU) Despite his skepticism, Wenk said he welcomes the
USG desire to press for resolution of the problem. He said
that growing donor fatigue makes increasingly questionable
how the refugees would continue to be fed. He suggested that
the EU and the USG formulate a joint approach in preparation
for the Bhutan aid consortium to be held in Geneva on
February 17. He undertook to advise Brussels of USG interest
in the matter.

--------------
INDIANS PERTURBED
--------------


7. (C) Wenk said that Indian Ambassador Shyam Saran had
expressed to him apparent dismay at the USG initiative to
resolve the crisis. Because of India's open border,
resettling 100,000 refugees in India would be easy, Saran
reportedly said (Ref E),although he apparently did not
suggest that the GOI would consider such a course. According
to Wenk, Saran said he fears the USG initiative will relieve
the GOB of responsibility for resolving the problem. It is
all right if part of an eventual solution to the problem
implies third countries taking a certain number of refugees,
but proposing actual numbers for ultimate resettlement abroad
takes the pressure off Bhutan and "pulls the rug out from
under our (India's) feet" in resolving the crisis, Saran
said. The Ambassador did not, however, specify what efforts
the GOI is undertaking to reach a resolution. (Note: None
of our Indian diplomatic colleagues, including Ambassador
Saran, has expressed similar sentiments directly to us. End
note.)

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


8. (C) We are somewhat skeptical as well that Foreign
Minister Shah will return to Nepal with anything concrete
from his discussions in Thimpu, but welcome GON efforts to
give the stalled discussions one last jumpstart. The
prospects of Nepalese Maoist insurgent attention to the
camps, coupled with dwindling EU aid--a point we hope will be
strongly emphasized at the donors' conference in Geneva--make
the need for an expeditious resolution to the problem more
urgent than ever. Unfortunately, however, the Indian
Ambassador's comments indicate that we may not count on the
GOI to support our initiative.
MALINOWSKI