Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03KATHMANDU1295
2003-07-10 02:04:00
SECRET
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:  

NEPAL: WORLD FOOD PROGRAM DEALS WITH MAOISTS AND

Tags:  WFP 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 001295 

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SA/INS, INR

SECRET

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/04/2013
TAGS: WFP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: WORLD FOOD PROGRAM DEALS WITH MAOISTS AND
GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION

REF: KATHMANDU 1221

Classified By: DCM Robert Boggs for Reasons 1.5 (b,d).

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 001295

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SA/INS, INR

SECRET

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/04/2013
TAGS: WFP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: WORLD FOOD PROGRAM DEALS WITH MAOISTS AND
GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION

REF: KATHMANDU 1221

Classified By: DCM Robert Boggs for Reasons 1.5 (b,d).


1. (S) Summary. The World Food Program (WFP) in Nepal has
been operating in the most heavily Maoist-affected areas in
Nepal since the last quarter of 2002. WFP Director
Joergensen reports that through April 2003, the cease-fire
had enabled villagers and traders to travel freely,
increasing access to food in Maoist-controlled areas. WFP
field officers do, however, encounter frequent difficulties
with Maoist cadres. Since May 2003, Director Joergensen
began receiving reports from the field of heightened security
and increased travel restrictions by the Maoists. Anecdotal
evidence suggests that the Maoist organization is
well-coordinated, with a sophisticated intelligence gathering
network. WFP Nepal has also encountered trouble with central
and district level government corruption, which has resulted
in their filing of four legal cases with the Commission to
Investigate Abuses of Authority (CIAA). End Summary.


2. (SBU) The World Food Program (WFP) in Nepal is one of two
UN-based agencies (the other is UNICEF) working daily in the
most heavily Maoist-affected areas in the country. Because
government corruption had been preventing the efficient
delivery of food to high-risk areas, shortly after her
arrival in August 2002 WFP Director Erika Joergensen
decentralized WFP's Nepal program to the district level.
Today WFP employs 24 Nepali field officers in 30 of Nepal's
75 districts and staffs four regional offices, including one
in Kathmandu. WFP programs focus on rural community
infrastructure building, such as road construction and
irrigation projects, mother and child heath and nutrition,
and food for education initiatives. WFP also provides the
food for 100,000 Bhutanese refugees in seven camps in Eastern
Nepal. Most recently, WFP received permission from the
Government of Nepal to implement a Quick Impact Program. The
program will mobilize 1,500 tons of food for ten districts
with heightened levels of food insecurity, often caused by
Maoist insurgents restricting villagers' access to markets.
These districts are Humla, Mugu, Dolpa, Rukum, Rolpa,
Jajarkot, Kalikot, Jumla, Bajura, and Bajhang.


3. (SBU) In its January through March quarterly report, WFP

Nepal reported that the cease-fire has largely been holding
without major incident. A modicum of peace and stability has
returned to districts that had been highly influenced by
insurgent activities. There has been increased freedom of
movement for both people and commodities. As a result, many
people who had left villages because of security concerns
reportedly have been returning and, in some cases, police and
Royal Nepal Army soldiers have been able to visit their
families at the village level after long absences. However,
significant apprehension remains in the western districts of
Nepal that peace talks will not produce results. In May, WFP
field officers began reporting stepped-up security and
increased travel restrictions by the Maoists.

--------------
Dealing with the Maoists
--------------


4. (S) Working primarily in heavily Maoist-affected areas,
the field officers encounter frequent difficulties in
implementing WFP programs. From the beginning, Joergensen
required her field officers to spend the first month
introducing themselves to district-level government
officials, NGOs and the Maoists so that all parties would be
aware of WFP's programs and objectives. This approach has
enabled her field officers to move freely in areas that are
otherwise heavily restricted by the Maoists. The only
district that remains largely inaccessible is Kalikot, where
the Maoist district commander reportedly is uncooperative and
violent.


5. (S) However, according to Director Joergensen, the Maoists
have attempted to intimidate WFP field officers and to steal
food and equipment from WFP. In Western Nepal's Bajura
District, Maoists seized the local WFP officer and detained
him for ten days, she said. During his detention, he was
taken to the Maoist district commander's tent in the jungle.
Although they had never met, the commander pondered for a few
minutes, wondering where he had seen the WFP officer before.
Asking his subordinate for a file, the commander pulled out a
paper with the field officer's photograph and biographic
information, including his year of birth and previous
employment.

6. (S) More frequently, Maoist cadres steal WFP food supplies
either to eat or sell for cash, Joergensen reported. When
this has happened, WFP has shut down its program in the area
and explained to the residents that until the goods are
returned, the program could not continue. Surprisingly, the
Maoists typically have returned what they did not eat or sell
and, in some cases, worked off the rest. Clearly, WFP is
providing necessary goods for the very poor and
underprivileged people that the Maoist organization claims to
be supporting.

--------------
Government Corruption
--------------


7. (S) Prior to decentralizing its operations, WFP
experienced significant setbacks with Government of Nepal
(GON) cooperation. WFP provides 100 percent funding for all
food distributed in Nepal and 50 percent of the
transportation cost, with the GON contributing the other 50
percent. Joergensen learned soon after her arrival that much
of WFP's transportation fund was not being drawn upon by the
GON for the transportation and delivery of food. She later
discovered that government officials at both the central and
district levels had been stealing food and selling it for
their own personal profit. On the basis of these complaints,
Joergensen has filed four cases, which are now pending, with
the Commission to Investigate Abuses of Authority (CIAA).
(Note: The CIAA is a GON agency mandated with investigating
allegations of government corruption (reftel). End Note.)


8. (C) WFP Nepal has also encountered less serious, but still
troublesome, cases of government corruption. For example,
district-level officials were directing WFP to contract the
transportation and food distribution to businesses owned by
family and friends. Within the central government, officials
in the Ministries of Finance, Agriculture and Local
Development would request training abroad ostensibly to learn
how the French, for example, run school lunch programs.
After WFP denied their requests, Director Joergensen
explained, Ministry officials would "stop working on WFP
programs."

--------------
Comment
--------------


9. (S) Through the WFP field officers' encounters with
Maoists in western Nepal, it appears that the insurgents are
well-coordinated and very well-informed. Most district
commanders appear to be staying 'on message' by allowing WFP
to operate relatively unhindered, distributing food to the
most needy, even in predominantly Maoist-controlled areas.
The WFP's experience of increasing Maoist restrictions on
travel are consistent with reports from other aid agencies of
rising levels of Maoist extortion and threats agains local
development workers. End Comment.


MALINOWSKI