NEPAL: PARTIES BOYCOTT PM'S MEETING ON PEACE

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000292

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR SA/INS
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PTER NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: PARTIES BOYCOTT PM'S MEETING ON PEACE
INITIATIVE

REF: KATHMANDU 0198


1. (U) Five of the six parties that had MPs in the previous
Parliament boycotted a February 17 meeting called by Prime
Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand to discuss Government of
Nepal (GON) efforts to begin negotiations with Maoist
insurgents. The all-party meeting, which the GON had billed
as an effort to brief and consult with the parties on its
peace initiative, drew attendance only from Deputy Prime
Minister Badri Prasad Mandal's Nepal Sadbhavana Party, along
with representatives from a host of smaller,
non-Parliamentary parties. Citing the lack of participation
from Parliamentary parties, PM Chand's own National
Democratic Party (RPP) stayed away from the meeting as well,
although RPP General Secretary Pashupati S.J.B. Rana
reportedly met with the PM one hour before the scheduled
all-party meeting as an apparent compromise.


2. (SBU) The Nepali Congress (NC) Party (Koirala) did not
attend the meeting because the party has not recognized the
constitutionality of Chand's interim government, according to
NC Party member Basant Gautam. Gautam added that the NC will
formulate its own position on possible peace talks with the
Maoists after the Feb. 19 Democracy Day holiday. RPP Central
Committee Member Khem Raj Pandit told the Embassy that while
his party is "positive" about the peace process and stands
ready to assist in any way it can, it did not attend the
meeting because of the presence of non-parliamentary parties.
Chaitya Raj Shakya, Central Committee member of the far-left
Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, told us that his party had
boycotted the meeting both because it does not recognize the
Chand government and because it believes an all-party meeting
should not include parties not represented in the previous
Parliament. Instead of the current Chand government, an
all-party government should be formed to address negotiations
with the Maoists, he added.


3. (SBU) Comment: The major parties criticized the January
29 announcement of the ceasefire between GON forces and the
Maoists for its lack of "transparency" (Reftel)--which, in
Nepal's political shorthand, translates to the parties'
collective disgruntlement at the interim government bypassing
them to take the initiative in seeking a peaceful resolution
to the insurgency. This initial GON effort toward greater
"transparency" has obviously failed to mollify the parties or
to appease their fears of marginalization. The GON knows it
will need the support of the principal political parties in
order to engage successfully with the Maoists. So far,
however, GON overtures to win such support continue to
founder on the parties' refusal to deal with the interim
Chand government.
MALINOWSKI