NEPAL: GOVERNMENT AND MAOISTS HOLD FIRST ROUND OF

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 000769

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE FOR SA/INS
LONDON FOR POL - GURNEY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PGOV NP GON
SUBJECT: NEPAL: GOVERNMENT AND MAOISTS HOLD FIRST ROUND OF
PEACE TALKS

REF: A. KATHMANDU 0723


B. KATHMANDU 0692

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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) On April 27 Government of Nepal (GON) negotiators
held the first round of peace talks with their Maoist
counterparts in a Kathmandu hotel. During the talks the
Maoists presented a set of 24 demands that included a
constituent assembly to draft a new constitution; the
integration of the Royal Nepal Army with the Maoist People's
Army; an end to foreign military assistance; abrogation of
the 50-year-old bilateral treaty with India; and repeal of
anti-terrorism measures. Implicit in many of the demands was
either outright abolition of Nepal's constitutinal monarchy
or far stricter limits on his powers. Negotiators appointed
a four-person team of facilitators for future dialogue and
agreed to establish a committee to monitor compliance with
the code of conduct. Spokesmen for both sides said they were
pleased with progress made during this initial round. The
date and venue for the next round of talks have not yet been
decided. Although many of the Maoist demands clearly exceed
what the GON is prepared to concede, this first meeting marks
an important milestone in a still incipient peace process.
End summary.

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MAOISTS SPELL OUT DEMANDS
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2. (U) On April 27 Government of Nepal (GON) negotiators
officially opened dialogue with their Maoist counterparts for
the first time since the January 29 ceasefire announcement.
(The Maoists had unilaterally called off an earlier first
session initially scheduled for April 21.) Deputy Prime
Minister Badri Prasad Mandal led the six-person GON
delegation (Ref B),while chief ideologue Dr. Baburam
Bhattarai headed the five-man Maoist team. After the
meeting, spokesmen for both sides told the local media that
they were pleased with the progress achieved during the
round, which lasted four and a half hours at a Kathmandu
hotel.


3. (U) The Maoists reportedly presented their GON
interlocutors with a set of 24 demands (considerably pared
down from the 40-point set first submitted to the
then-government in 1996). Salient features of these demands
(most of which have previously surfaced in Maoist public
statements over the past months) follow below:

A) Drafting of a New Constitution

--process begins with an all-party roundtable conference to
set up an interim government headed by the Maoists;

--the Maoist-led interim government then oversees elections
to a constituent assembly that drafts a new constitution;

--the new constitution will differ from the current
constitution in that:

a) "state power" is entirely vested in the people;

b) the Maoist People's Army is integrated into the Royal
Nepal Army, which subsequently is placed under the control of
"the people";

c) Nepal is designated a secular state, rather than a
"Hindu kingdom";

d) no part of the new constitution is "unalterable"; any
part may be changed by referendum;

e) education, health care and employment will be made
fundamental rights;

f) extensive land reforms will be instituted.

B) Foreign Relations

--all foreign relations should be governed by the principles
of non-alignment;

--the 1950 Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the GON and
India should be abrogated;
--the open border with India should be controlled and
regulated;

--foreign military assistance and agreements introduced under
the guise of combating terrorism that have "a serious impact
on the national interest" should be ended;

--recruitment (by the Indian and British militaries) of
Nepalis into Gurkha regiments should end;

--"foreign monopolies" in trade, industry and financial
services must be abolished;

--interference by foreigners working for NGOs and INGOs must
stop;

--terms and conditions of foreign loans should be renounced
if deemed against the national interest;

--the importation of magazines and movies that "pollute" the
national culture should cease.

C) Repeal of Anti-terrorism Measures

--existing anti-terrorism legislation should be abolished;

--Maoist Politburo members must be released from detention;

--Royal Nepal Army soldiers must return to their barracks
within one week;

--whereabouts of missing Maoist cadres must be disclosed.

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FACILITATORS NAMED;
MONITORS TO BE NAMED
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4. (U) Besides the presentation of the Maoist agenda, the
first round of talks also saw the appointment of a four-man
team of facilitators. The Maoists chose lawyer and former
Nepali Congress MP Dham Nath Dhungana and self-described
human rights activist Padma Ratna Tuladhar, both of whom
served as facilitators in the abortive round of negotiations
in 2001, to represent their interests. For the GON side,
septuagenarians Shailendra Upadhyay and Karna Dhoj Adhikary,
former Foreign Minister and former Chief Secretary during the
partyless Panchayat era respectively, were appointed. A
separate bilateral team to monitor compliance with the code
of conduct will be named at the next round of talks, GON
negotiator and Physical Planning Minister Narayan Singh Pun
told the press. The date and venue for a second round have
not yet been determined.

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COMMENT
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5. (SBU) The Maoist demands are fairly comprehensive,
including not only the oft-repeated call for a constituent
assembly but also a detailed prescription for what that
as-yet unelected assembly should decide. That the
hypothetically freely and fairly elected assembly might
decide that a new constitution is unnecessary does not appear
to have entered into the Maoist calculus. If the Maoists are
truly calling, as they have so often claimed, for free and
fair elections to a constituent assembly, it is unclear on
what basis they demand leadership of the all-party body
overseeing those elections and how they can dictate the shape
of the resulting constitution. Although much of the Maoists'
apparent xenophobia appears directly targeted at limiting
Indian influence, the references to INGO "interference" (a
swipe at the IFIs) and foreign military assistance under the
guise of counter-terrorism (a swipe at us, the UK, and India)
obviously stand out. While the Maoist agenda presented on
April 27 never explicitly calls for an end to the monarchy,
the proposed changes to the Constitution (e.g., the transfer
of "state power" and control of the Army to "the people"; the
abolition of the Hindu Kingdom) imply either that aim or the
application of such stringent limits on royal authority as to
render it superfluous. It is unlikely that King Gyanendra
will agree to such fundamental and drastic changes--nor does
there appear to be much popular appetite to institute them.
The Government of India is likely to be equally
unenthusiastic about the calls to abrogate the 1950 bilateral
accord and to establish greater border controls. The newer,
tighter list of demands has eliminated much of the "soft"
socio-economic elements of earlier iterations of the Maoist
agenda, leaving little potential common ground on which the
two sides might begin substantive dialogue.
MALINOWSKI