UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, NOVEMBER 29-

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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINS PTER CASC PGOV NP
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, NOVEMBER 29-
DECEMBER 5

REFERENCE: (A) KATHMANDU 2298

(B) KATHMANDU 1649

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


1. On November 28, Interpol re-issued red corner notices
for fourteen Maoists including top leaders Prachanda and
Baburam Bhattarai. Despite a highly publicized meeting
between Maoist leaders and the General Secretary of the
Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML)
last week in Lucknow, India (Ref A),an Indian intelligence
agency spokesman said they have "still not found any proof
that Maoists are in India." According to press reports the
Government of India (GOI) claims to have frozen 2,000 bank
accounts of Nepalis suspected of having links to the
Maoists. A December 3 report from a New Delhi publication
alleges that Maoists are helping China smuggle Chinese
weapons to insurgent groups in India and Bhutan.


2. Summary Continued. Ten security personnel were killed
and seventeen were injured in clashes with Maoists, while
sixty-four Maoists reportedly died in the battles. Several
Maoist battalion commanders reportedly surrendered to
security forces declaring they made "a grave mistake" in
joining the Maoists. A female Maoist who surrendered said
female cadres are sexually exploited in the organization.
Development programs in the western district of Dailekh have
been suspended following the murder of an NGO employee by
Maoists. Three other civilians reportedly were also
murdered by the rebels, and thirty-three others, including
sixteen students, were abducted. Maoists continue to close
educational institutions, and threaten nationwide strikes.
On November 28, a vernacular newspaper quoted senior Maoist
Baburam Bhattarai justifying extortion as an "international
and historic tradition." According to police authorities,
there are an estimated 2,500 people leaving daily for India
from the western district of Kanchanpur. An underground
student leader of the Maoist-affiliated All Nepal National
Independent Students' Union-Revolutionary (ANNISU-R)
reportedly threatened Nepalese students in Hong Kong.
Several political parties and human rights organizations
have agreed to form a network to monitor human rights
abuses. Maoist FM radio stations in the west have been shut
down after six months. End Summary.

RED CORNER NOTICES ISSUED AGAIN
--------------


3. On November 28, Interpol issued red corner notices for
fourteen Maoists, including top leaders Prachanda and
Baburam Bhattarai. The senior Maoists are wanted for
various crimes, including murder and terrorism. The notices
were withdrawn earlier in the year at the request of the
Government of Nepal (GON),as preconditions for peace
negotiations during the ceasefire. The notices allow any of
the 181 member countries of Interpol to arrest the Maoist
leaders.


4. On that same day, the Central Bureau of Investigation
(CBI) of India issued a statement that it will abide by
Interpol's request. However, despite a highly publicized
meeting between Maoist leaders and the General Secretary of
the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-
UML) last week in the northern Indian city of Lucknow (Ref
A),CBI spokesman G. Mohanti said they have "still not found
any proof that Maoists are in India." (Note: Chandra
Prakash Gajurel, a senior Maoist on Interpol's list, was
arrested in India on August 20, and is currently jailed in
India. Gajurel was attempting to use a fake passport to
leave the country on his way to London (Ref B) End note.)

GOI CLAIMS NEPALI ACCOUNTS FROZEN
--------------


5. A Nepali newspaper, citing an article in the Indian
press on December 2, reported that the Government of India
(GOI) claims to have frozen 2,000 bank accounts of Nepalis
suspected of having links to the Maoists. The newspaper
quotes an Indian intelligence source as saying that the
action was taken after the U.S. added the Maoists to its
asset freeze list, and at the request of the Government of
Nepal. Investigations into bank accounts held by Nepalis in
Indian cities along the Nepal-India border reportedly will
also be conducted.

DEADLY BATTLE KILLS DOZENS
--------------


6. A fierce clash on December 3 between a joint patrol of
security forces and Maoists in the west reportedly killed
three policemen, two Armed Police Force (APF) personnel, one
Royal Nepal Army (RNA) soldier and twenty-five rebels.
Thirteen security personnel were also injured and four are
missing in the battle that took place in Kailali District.
On that same day, twelve rebels died in clashes in the
neighboring districts of Palpa and Arghakhanchi, and seven
others were killed in the northeastern district of
Solukhumbu.


7. Twenty Maoists reportedly were killed in other separate
incidents throughout Nepal. On December 2, three were
killed in the eastern districts of Sarlahi and Panchthar,
while another died in Doti District in the west. Five
rebels were killed on December 1, four in central Nepal in
Syangja District, and another in Sarlahi. On November 30,
eleven insurgents died in clashes. Nine were killed in the
eastern districts of Panchthar, Sunsari and Siraha, and two
were killed in Chitwan, southwest of Kathmandu.


8. Four security personnel were killed and four others
injured in Maoist ambushes. On December 1, one policeman
was killed in Sindhupalchowk. On November 30, another
police officer was killed in Chitwan, and a RNA soldier died
after Maoists threw a socket bomb at a group of soldiers on
patrol. Maoists gunned down an officer in the city of
Hetauda, and four police were seriously injured on November
28 after hitting a Maoist planted landmine in Mahottari
District.

MAOISTS REPORTEDLY HELPING CHINA SMUGGLING ARMS
-------------- --


9. A December 3 report published in a New Delhi English
language newspaper alleges that China is targeting the
Indian city of Siliguri, with the help of Nepali Maoists, to
smuggle Chinese weapons to insurgent groups in India and
Bhutan. The article charges that Maoists in Nepal's
district of Ilam, which borders India on the east, are
aiding several Indian insurgent groups (the United
Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA),the Kamatapur Liberation
Organization (KLO),and the National Democratic Front of
Bodoland (NDFB) in setting up explosives units. The report
states that Siliguri in Northern West Bengal has become a
major market for Chinese-made assault rifles, explosives,
detonators, and pistols. Chinese weapons have been used in
all of the assassinations committed by the Maoists, and have
also been used in crimes in India and Bhutan.

MAOIST COMMANDERS SURRENDER
--------------


10. On November 30, the local press reported that a Maoist
battalion commander surrendered to security forces. Man
Bahadur Malla claims he made "a grave mistake" in joining
the Maoists five years ago, and said the Maoists have now
turned into a "fully terrorist organization." According to
Malla, who helped transfer insurgents from western Nepal to
the eastern region, the rebels want to establish a
totalitarian state, and used the ceasefire not only to
expand their influence but also to increase their military
strength. On December 4, Ananda Shah, an area commander of
the Maoists in the western district of Dailekh, reportedly
also surrendered at the RNA's barracks. Shah told security
personnel that there is "widespread opposition within the
Maoists" over the unilateral breakdown of peace talks. Two
other Maoist commanders reportedly also surrendered to
security forces, one in the eastern district of Udayapur,
and another in the western district of Kalikot.


11. A female Maoist who surrendered on November 30 told
reporters that there are children as young as ten years old
in the Maoist army, and that females are subject to sexual
exploitation. Maya Chaudari claimed to have joined the
organization when she was fifteen years old, and said that
there were "cases of rape" when the girls did not willingly
consent to sexual propositions.


12. Amid speculation about local cadres ignoring
Prachanda's orders and reports of Maoist cadres deserting
the organization, a vernacular newspaper reported on
December 2 that two groups of Maoists clashed with each
other in the eastern district of Sindhuli, leaving one
Maoist dead.

DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS SUSPENDED IN DAILEKH
--------------


13. On November 30, Maoists reportedly gunned down a female
Nepali staff member of a local NGO associated with the World
Food Program (WFP) in the western district of Dailekh, on
charges of being a spy for the government. On December 3,
the WFP, the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) and
the British Department of International Development (DFIF)
issued a press release stating that support for the Food for
Work Program has been temporarily suspended in Dailekh
District, pending an investigation of the murder. According
to the statement, the WFP's policy does not accept its staff
members "being subject to assault, abduction and violence."


14. The United Mission to Nepal(UMN),an international and
interdenominational development NGO, has also closed some of
its programs in Dailekh. According to UMN Director Devid
Marki, an informal education program in the district has
been dissolved due to the lack of security in that region.
Marki reportedly also said that the mission would re-
evaluate other programs in the district and make any
necessary changes.

REBELS CONTINUE TO DISRUPT EDUCATION
--------------


15. Maoists in the central district of Palpa reportedly
have sent letters to twelve schools ordering them to close
or face consequences. Almost 9,000 students will be
affected by the closures. Maoists in eastern Nepal have
also threatened a nationwide education strike on December 7
and 8, and several sister organizations are threatening
additional closures throughout the month of December.
Several schools in the eastern district of Tehrathum have
already shut down due to Maoist activities.


16. On December 3, a group of Maoists torched two school
buses in the eastern district of Siraha. No students were
on the buses at the time. Almost 200 students are now
without transportation.


17. Twenty-eight youths, including sixteen students from
various schools in the far western district of Achham,
reportedly were abducted on November 29 by Maoists.

MAOIST LEADER JUSTIFIES EXTORTION
--------------


18. On November 28, a vernacular newspaper quoted Maoist
ideologue Baburam Bhattarai as saying that extortion is not
only permissible, but an "international and historic
tradition." Bhattarai claimed that eighty percent of Nepal
is under control of the Maoists, and "where there is power,
there is tax collection." Bhattarai justified the party's
actions by saying that taxes are collected according to the
financial status of the people.

MAOISTS MURDER AND ABDUCT CIVILIANS
--------------


19. On December 2, Maoists reportedly killed two civilians.
One was hacked to death in the western district of Dang
after the rebels accused him of helping security personnel,
and another was killed in Siraha District, in the east,
after being abducted by Maoist cadres. On November 30,
Maoists reportedly killed another civilian in the western
district of Bardiya. On December 5 in that same district,
seven children were hurt after playing with a bomb left by
Maoists, which they mistakenly believed was a ball.


20. Five civilians were abducted by Maoists during the
week. On November 27, a teacher in Ramechhap District was
taken from school, and another teacher was abducted from his
home in Sunsari District. Another civilian was also
abducted from that same district. Two youths on their way
to enlist in the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) reportedly were
abducted by Maoists in the western district of Surkhet. The
rebels also destroyed all of the youths' documents,
including their citizenship papers.

NEPALESE FLEEING TO INDIA IN DROVES
--------------


21. Residents of Taplejung District, which borders India on
the northeast, are fleeing their homes due to the exorbitant
extortion demands made by the Maoists. According to the
locals, the rebels threaten to seize their houses and land
if they do not meet the Maoists' demands for money. The
insurgents have also threatened to cut off the legs of
anyone attempting to flee to the district headquarters.
Villagers say that "life has become miserable."


22. Nepalese in the district of Kanchanpur, which borders
India on the west, are also migrating to India in record
numbers. According to police authorities, an estimated
2,500 people leave daily for India from the district. While
authorities acknowledge it is common for youths to leave to
avoid forced Maoist recruitment, they are seeing an increase
in entire families migrating.

MAOISTS ISSUE LONG DISTANCE THREATS
--------------


23. On November 26, the South China Post in Hong Kong and
the BBC reported that Naresh Rai, Central Committee Member
of the All Nepal National Independent Students' Union-
Revolutionary (ANNISU-R),the Maoist-affiliated student
organization, reportedly sent an electronic message
threatening Nepalese students in Hong Kong. According to
Nepali students in Hong Kong interviewed by BBC, they feared
less for their own security than for Maoist violence against
their families in Nepal. Rai is currently underground.

CALL FOR HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING
--------------


24. Several political parties and human rights
organizations reportedly have agreed to form a network to
monitor human rights abuses as a result of the Maoist
insurgency. Members of the CPN-UML, the National Human
Rights Commission (NHRC),Nepali Congress (NC),the Peoples'
Front Nepal, the Nepal Workers and Peasants' Party (NWPP),
and the Nepal Sadbhawana Party held a program in Kathmandu
on December 2 to discuss the deteriorating human rights
situation. Krishna Sitaula, a NC leader, alleged "both the
Maoists and the government are in a race to kill civilians."
Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the CPN-UML, said
coordination between the political parties and the NHRC was
necessary, and human rights abuses should be jointly
investigated.

MAOIST RADIO STATIONS DEFUNCT
--------------


25. Three Maoist-run FM radio stations operating in the
western district of Rukum for the past six months are now
defunct. According to local villagers, the stations were
shut down due to intensified searches by security forces to
locate the stations. Maoist cadres reportedly had issued an
order to villagers against listening to government-owned
Radio Nepal.

MALINOWSKI