NEPAL: UPDATE ON MAOIST ACTIVITIES, DEC 27-JAN 3

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 000015 SIPDIS STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/IP/NEA STATE ALSO PLEASE PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA USAID FOR ANE/AA GORDON WEST AND JIM BEVER MANILA FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA LONDON FOR POL/REIDEL 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: PHUM PTER CASC PGOV NP IN SUBJECT: NEPAL: UPDATE ON MAOIST ACTIVITIES, DEC 27-JAN 3 REF: A. Kathmandu 2492 ¶B. Kathmandu 2490 SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. The GON said it is receptive to and ready to create an environment for peace talks with the Maoists. Prime Minister Lokendra Chand said the GON will accede to the Maoists' demand for information on imprisoned rebels. Despite the GON's conciliatory gestures, the Maoists have called another two-day bandh for February to protest King Gyanendra's dismissal of the elected government and continued their campaign of violence. Maoists killed six civilians, including two children and a young widow whom they hacked to death, and injured seven others in separate bombing incidents. The rebels also killed three policemen and injured seven members of the Armed Police Force (APF) in separate attacks. Two policemen are still missing from an attack on a police post. Six students were abducted at gunpoint by the Maoists and their whereabouts are still unknown. Maoists set off several bombs in the downtown Kathmandu area, bombed several Village Development Committee (VDC) buildings, set fire to a large residence, and looted rice, cotton and fertilizer from a Cotton Development Office. India reportedly arrested three Maoists from Nepal. Nepali human rights groups continued to decry the human rights violations by both the GON and the Maoists, invoking the Geneva Convention and opposing the purchase of weapons by the GON. GOVERNMENT RESPONDS TO MAOIST DEMANDS -------------- ¶2. Speaking at a tribute to the late King Birendra, Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand said the GON is ready to reveal the locations and names of Maoist rebels currently imprisoned throughout the country. Maoist leaders have demanded the information as one of their preconditions for a peace dialogue. Chand said the only way to achieve peace is through dialogue and the GON will do its part, but the Maoists will have to take positive steps as well. Chand called for an end to the violence and murder of innocent people, saying that such acts are not an acceptable means to fulfill political ambitions, but only serve to deprive Nepali people of their rights. MAOISTS CALL ANOTHER TWO-DAY STRIKE -------------- ¶3. Maoists have called for another nationwide two-day strike on February 13-14. The strike ostensibly is being called to protest King Gyanendra's dismissal of the elected government and to express their anger at what Maoist leader Prachanda says is the "suspension of the people's sovereign rights." ¶4. The two-day bandh called by the Maoists on December 29- 30 for the Bagmati and Narayani districts, including the Kathmandu Valley, passed largely without incident (ref A). However, most businesses and schools were shut down and few vehicles were on the streets. Nepal saw an unprecedented number of bandhs in 2002, particularly educational bandhs. According to press reports, there were a total of 39 bandh days, of which 17 were educational bandhs. NO END IN SIGHT TO MAOIST BRUTALITY AND DESTRUCTION -------------- -------------- ¶5. On December 29 Maoist rebels forcibly entered a home in Gulariya, southern Bardiga District, and brutally killed a twenty-five year old mother by chopping off her legs and driving nails into her palms. On December 28 Maoists threw a grenade into a home in southern Dang District, killing four members of a family, including a two year-old child. Maoists also killed a fourteen-year-old child and injured seven others in neighboring Salyan District by throwing a bomb into a tea shop. On December 27 Maoists bombed a school dormitory in Kathmandu, injuring five children, a teacher and a principal (ref B). ¶6. Maoist assaults on policemen and police posts continued throughout Nepal. On January 2 seven members of the Armed Police Force (APF),including the superintendent, were injured by a Maoist landmine in the Dang District. Two policemen were killed at a temporary police post in southern Bara District on December 28 when rebels ambushed the post and then blew it up. Two policemen from the post are still missing. In the Kailali District, armed Maoists surrounded a police officer's home and kidnapped him. His mutilated body was discovered on December 29. ¶7. On December 27 Maoists set fire to a large residence in central Nuwakot District, causing damage of over one hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The Maoists also looted gold and money from the building before destroying it. Maoists also bombed a statue of the late King Mahendra in the Bara District, totally destroying it. Several bombs went off in the Kathmandu Valley on December 28, including one at a central shopping area (New Road),and Gongabu Village Development Committee (VDC) facilities. No injuries were reported. Police in eastern Siraha District were able to diffuse three pressure cooker bombs that were planted near a main road. Maoist rebels bombed and destroyed a Cotton Development Office in southern Bardia District on December 25 and looted rice, cotton and fertilizer. Two VDC office buildings in southern Parsa District were destroyed after being bombed by Maoists on December 27. ¶8. Maoists entered a high school in eastern Bhojpur District and abducted six students at gunpoint. The students, all boys, were taken to an unknown location and have yet to be released. GLUTTONOUS MAOISTS CLEAN OUT HOMES -------------- ¶9. Villagers already in fear for their lives now have to worry about Maoists depleting their personal food supplies. It is becoming common for Maoists to enter a home and stay until they have consumed all the food supplies. The rebels, locally known as "Maobadis" or Maoist fanatics, have become so greedy that villagers have started calling them "khaobadis" or eating fanatics. Villagers, already struggling to feed themselves and their families, now worry that they will be forced to feed the "khaobadis." INDIA ARRESTS NEPALI MAOISTS -------------- ¶10. Three Maoist rebels, including a senior leader of the All-Nepal National Free Students Union--Revolutionary (ANNFSU-R),were reportedly arrested on December 29 outside Siliguri, near Darjeeling. Police officials said the rebels were heading to Patna to attend a meeting with the People's War Group and the Maoist Communist Center, two Indian Maoist groups. The arrests came after India recently increased security along the India-Nepal border. ¶11. L.K. Advani, Deputy Prime Minister of India, voiced concern that Maoists from Nepal have increased their efforts to infiltrate India and step up their campaign of violence. HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS WANT GENEVA PACT IMPLEMENTED -------------- -------------- ¶12. Representatives from the Human Rights and Alternative Development Academy and the Indigenous Human Rights and Concern Society filed a writ petition in Nepal's Supreme Court, demanding that GON be ordered, under the Geneva Convention, to protect human rights. The petition claims that the Geneva Convention can be invoked because of Nepal's current internal conflict. ¶13. Kapil Shrestha, member of the National Human Rights Commission, called for zero tolerance of human rights violations by both the Maoists and the GON and demanded that the Maoists immediately declare a cease-fire. The Human Rights and Peace Society (HURPES),a non-governmental organization in Kathmandu, released its own paper on December 28 accusing the GON of gross human rights violations and the Maoists of violating international humanitarian laws. ¶14. Lakshmi Rai, of the National Women's Commission, expressed anger that the identities of the rape victims in Amnesty International's recent human rights report were made public. Rai expressed concern over the revelations and airing of video footage of the alleged rape victims, saying that it will only serve to ostracize the girls and subject them to further victimization. The Royal Nepal Army (RNA) has publicly denied the rape charges. ¶15. A local human rights group decried the purchase of weapons by the GON, saying the arrival of the Belgian arms was not conducive to peace talks. Radha Krishna Mainali, committee member of the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML),questioned the purchase by the GON, saying the deal made it hard to hope for peace.