NEPAL: UPDATE ON MAOIST ACTIVITIES, JAN 25-31

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 KATHMANDU 000180

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, JAN 25-31

REFERENCE: (A) KATHAMNDU 0175
(B) KATHMANDU 0140
(C) KATHMANDU 0145
(D) KATHMANDU 0135
SUMMARY
--------------


1. The Government of Nepal (GON) and the Maoists announced
a ceasefire on January 29 (Ref A). The international
community widely welcomed the news of a ceasefire. The
Maoist-aligned All Nepal National Independent Students Union-
Revolutionary (ANNISU-R) said that it will go ahead with
their planned education strike despite the ceasefire. Prior
to the ceasefire announcement, the week got off to a brutal
start after Maoists gunned down Krishna Mohan Shrestha,
Inspector General of Police, his wife and a sub-inspector,
causing fear and outrage throughout Nepal (Ref B). Maoists
also killed seventeen security personnel, including six
police and six Armed Police Force (APF) personnel. Two
civilians were killed in the same attack. Maoists abducted
thirty-six students from a secondary school, and thirty-six
villagers. The Royal Nepal Army (RNA) is planning to
increase its troop strength to help combat the insurgency.
In an effort to correct human rights violations, the
Government of Nepal announced plans to compensate the
families of those killed by errant security forces. The
army also announced court-martials for those found guilty of
killing innocent civilians (Ref C). Amnesty International
expressed concern again over the human rights situation in
Nepal.

CEASE-FIRE ANNOUNCED; LEADERS CAUTIOUS
--------------


2. The Government of Nepal (GON) and the Maoists declared a
ceasefire on January 29. The GON agreed to remove the
terrorist label, withdraw red corner notices from Interpol
and remove rewards for intelligence on top Maoist leaders
(Ref A). Narayan Singh Pun, Minister For Physical Planning
and Works, was designated by the government as its peace
talks coordinator.


3. The United States and the international community
welcomed the news of the ceasefire. England, Germany,
Finland, India and the EU Heads of Mission all expressed
support for the ceasefire and hope that it would lead to a
peaceful resolution.


4. GON officials remain cautious. Ramesh Nath Pandey,
Minister for Information and Communication, was quoted in
local papers as saying that "peace talks will begin soon,"
but Narayan Singh Pun, Minister for Physical Planning and
Works, cautioned that the hard part was just beginning. Pun
said there was no definite time frame for when the peace
talks would begin, and that it was a delicate process that
should be taken one step at a time.


5. Dadhi Raj Lamichhane, one of the Maoist mediators, said
the Maoists were committed to the ceasefire and told local
reporters that if anyone from either side violated the
ceasefire they should be branded as "traitors."

EDUCATION STRIKE TO GO ON
--------------


6. The All Nepal National Independent Students Union-
Revolutionary (ANNISU-R),the Maoist-aligned students
organization, said it will not cancel its plans for the
upcoming educational strike. ANNISU-R threatened to close
all educational institutions, indefinitely, beginning
February 13 if the GON does not meet its 13-point demands,
which include free education and an increase in school
budgets.


7. ANNISU-R issued a statement on January 30 that if the
GON did not sit down for talks, it would turn schools
throughout the country into "focal points of agitation."
ANNISU-R said it would go ahead with the strike despite the
ceasefire declared by the Maoist leadership.

BRUTAL MURDER OF INSPECTOR GENERAL
--------------


8. Krishna Mohan Shrestha, Inspector General of the Armed
Police Force, his wife and bodyguard were gunned down while
walking outside their home on the morning of January 26 (Ref
B). Shrestha is the highest-ranking security official to be
killed since the start of the Maoist insurgency. The
Government of Nepal condemned the murders, calling them
disgraceful and cowardly and asserting that they showed the
true face of the terrorists to the world. Prime Minister
Lokendra Bahadur Chand said the murders would not deter
security forces in their fight against the Maoists.

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ATTACKS NEPAL AGAIN
--------------


9. Amnesty International (AI) issued a statement on January
24 expressing serious concern about the worsening human
rights situation in Nepal. The statement comes on the heels
of a report that security personnel rearrested Janak Prasad
Adhikari, a suspected Maoist, soon after the Supreme Court
ordered his release (Ref C). AI declared that not enough was
being done to stop human rights violations.


10. The Government of Nepal said it would compensate the
families of two boys killed by security forces in Myagdi
District in December. The two boys, age 14 and 23, were
killed while returning home after taking their grandfather
for treatment for rheumatism. According to press reports,
security forces insisted the boys were killed
unintentionally as a result of a crossfire. The GON said
each family would receive just over 1200 dollars.


11. Madan Prasad Aryal, Defense Secretary, was quoted in
the local press as declaring that the army is committed to
honoring human rights and will punish those who are found
guilty of violations. Aryal, speaking at a local
conference, said that the army personnel implicated in the
killing of five innocent youths in Nuwakot District in
November are being court-martialed (Ref C). Aryal, however,
denied that any army officers were involved in the alleged
rape of two girls in Napalgunj District, declaring, "No case
of rape took place inside the barracks."

PEOPLES WAR TAKING TOLL ON SECURITY FORCES
--------------


12. According to an internal report, figures released on
January 25 by the Terrorism Control Section of the Police
Headquarters show that Maoists have killed 985 police
officers, injured almost 1400 others, and abducted almost
300 officers. In addition, Maoists have destroyed countless
police posts and stolen 800,000 dollars in cash and goods
from the police. According to the local press, an unnamed
high-ranking officer was quoted saying that officers fear
for their lives in Maoist-infested areas and that the police
force is suffering physically and psychologically because of
the insurgency.


13. The Royal Nepal Army had also suffered losses due to
the insurgency. Madan Kumar Aryal, Defence Secretary, said
that 244 soldiers had been killed and 363 had been injured
since the start of the Maoist "Peoples War."

INSURGENTS CONTINUE ATTACKS
--------------


14. Heavy fighting between security forces and Maoists
along the border of Baglung and Pyuthan Districts claimed
the lives of five policemen. The policemen had been missing
since the clash began on January 27. Their bodies were
discovered several days later. The battle continued even as
the announcement of a ceasefire was made on January 29.
Maoists, aiming at an Army helicopter in Surkhet District,
shot and killed two civilians, including a young girl, on
January 27. The civilians were part of a mass meeting
organized by the Maoists, who demanded that each household
in the district send at least one person to the meeting.
Maoists killed a retired policeman on January 26 in Bara
District. He was taken from his home, tied up and then
shot. The Maoists killed a police officer in Ilam District
on January 23, after dragging him from his house and
slitting his throat. The officer had gone home on leave to
visit his ill father. On January 24 a landmine blast,
planted by Maoists, exploded in Surkhet District, killing
five Armed Police Force (APF) personnel and injuring
seventeen others. In Dang District, another member of the
APF was also killed in a landmine blast. He was part of a
team of security personnel assigned to guard a
communications tower. Five security personnel were killed
and 31 injured in Nepalgunj District after an ambush by
Maoists on January 24.

MAOISTS STILL ABDUCTING STUDENTS
--------------


15. Maoists stormed into a classroom in Palpa District and
abducted 36 students from a secondary school. Their
whereabouts are still unknown. Meanwhile, the students
abducted from northwestern Rolpa District, taken on January
23, remain captive. Maoists reportedly took the children as
part of a Maoist training program in which the students are
forced to do road construction and farm work.


16. According to the local press, a group of armed Maoists
abducted 36 villagers in the middle of the day from Dang
District, ordering them to go with the Maoists to fight.
Four managed to escape, and fled to India.


17. Maoists abducted a civilian from Dang District on
January 24, accusing him of being an informant. He has not
been released. A Royal Nepal Army (RNA) soldier, taken by
the Maoists while guarding the Khimti Hydro-Power Project
(Ref D),sent a letter appealing for his life. The
insurgents allowed the soldier to send a letter to local
human rights activists, in which he begged for help to be
returned home safely.


18. Maoists in Kailali District are forcing families of
security personnel to vacate their houses, after which they
are locked. The families are also prevented from leaving
the village, leaving them with nowhere to live but unable to
get out of the district. According to local press reports,
the Maoists have locked up approximately 200 houses, forcing
the families to set up tents in their yards or take refuge
with neighbors.

PLANS TO BEEF UP SECURITY
--------------


19. Madan Kumar Aryal, Defense Secretary, told the local
press that the Government of Nepal (GON) is planning to
increase the number of personnel in the Royal Nepal Army
(RNA) from 60,000 to 66,000 in an effort to strengthen the
force in its fight against the Maoists.


20. In a separate report, the local press said that armed
security forces were to be stationed along the Nepal-India
border following reports that the Maoists are using the area
to smuggle in contraband, including weapons. The security
force had been removed from the Koilabus post, which is only
34 kilometers from the Maoists' Dang District training
center, after the Maoists attacked it in December.

MALINOWSKI