Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
03KATHMANDU87
2003-01-17 10:13:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:  

NEPAL: ARMY FACES CRITICISM FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Tags:  PHUM PREL MCAP MOPS NP 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 KATHMANDU 000087 

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/15/2013
TAGS: PHUM PREL MCAP MOPS NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: ARMY FACES CRITICISM FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
VIOLATIONS

REF: A. (A) 02 KATHMANDU 0634

B. (B) 02 KATHMANDU 1191

C. (C) 02 KATHMANDU 1372

D. (D) 02 KATHMANDU 1890

Classified By: AMB. MICHAEL E. MALINOWSKI. REASON: 1.5 (B,D).

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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 KATHMANDU 000087

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/15/2013
TAGS: PHUM PREL MCAP MOPS NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: ARMY FACES CRITICISM FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
VIOLATIONS

REF: A. (A) 02 KATHMANDU 0634

B. (B) 02 KATHMANDU 1191

C. (C) 02 KATHMANDU 1372

D. (D) 02 KATHMANDU 1890

Classified By: AMB. MICHAEL E. MALINOWSKI. REASON: 1.5 (B,D).

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


1. (SBU) The Royal Nepal Army (RNA) has come under fire
recently from a variety of sources, both local and
international, for human rights abuses committed while
fighting Nepal's bloody six-year-old Maoist insurgency. Most
disturbing, according to some sources, is the pattern of
apparent impunity that has so far insulated rank-and-file
soldiers as well as officers from prosecution. The human
rights cell set up by the Army in July has so far not
demonstrated an ability or a will to investigate cases
thoroughly. The RNA's recent mishandling of rape allegations
against two officers offers a sobering case in point,
suggesting some in the Army may be willing to go to
considerable lengths to protect and exonerate their own, even
in the face of significant evidence of guilt. The Maoists'
abysmal human rights record notwithstanding, widespread and
persistent human rights abuses pose a continuing obstacle to
the RNA's efforts to contain the insurgency. The Embassy
will step up its ongoing dialogue with the RNA about human
rights and hopes to offer increased support for human rights
training and capacity-building in the investigative cell.
End summary.

--------------
RECENT REPORTS SCORE RNA RIGHTS RECORD
--------------


2. (SBU) A number of end-of-year reports by international
and local human rights organizations have criticized the
Royal Nepal Army (RNA) and police, as well as the Maoists,
for a variety of abuses. Amnesty International, Human Rights
Watch, Nepal's National Human Rights Commission, and a local
NGO called the Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC) have
all described a situation in which Nepalis are suffering from
escalating violations committed by both the Maoists and the
security forces. Despite the difficulty of obtaining and
verifying information in areas hit hardest by the insurgency,

local journalists are devoting greater effort to recounting
and documenting stories of abuses on both sides. Unrelenting
press coverage of one incident, in which five boys and young
men returning from late-night festivities on November 27 were
mistakenly shot and killed by RNA soldiers in Nuwakot
District, succeeded in eliciting from the RNA an admission of
the innocence of the five--whom Defense Ministry press
releases had previously described as "terrorists"--and a
recommendation of compensation for their families.

--------------
HUMAN RIGHTS CELL
--------------


3. (C) In July the RNA established a human rights cell to
review complaints of violations (Ref C). (Note: The Home
Ministry announced the establishment of its own human rights
unit on January 14, 2003. End note.) In 2002 the cell
accepted more than 1,200 inquiries from the general public,
organizations, and NGOs, the bulk of which relate to missing
persons, according to Major Pankaj Karki. According to
Karki, a number of these complaints date from before late
2001, when the RNA was first mobilized against the
insurgents. None of these complaints appears to allege
extra-judicial killings. The RNA has responded to about 50
of these complaints so far. The head of the National Human
Rights Commission complained to us in December that his
organization has so far had no success in securing action
from the RNA on any of the cases it has brought before the
Government of Nepal (GON). The cell has investigated eight
allegations of human rights abuses by the RNA, six of which
were brought to its notice by the U.S. Embassy and two by the
German Embassy. (Other high-profile allegations were not
investigated, apparently, because no one brought a complaint.)


4. (C) Although the Embassy has seen no copies of reports
of investigations conducted by the cell, discussions with
cell members suggest a general lack of thoroughgoing,
impartial inquiry. The examiners, for the most part, seem to
have limited their questioning to alleged perpetrators and
their superiors, as well as the Chief District Officer and
local police authorities, although in a few cases surviving
victims themselves were contacted. Medical personnel;
neighbors; potential eyewitnesses; and local political,
community, religious, or business leaders do not appear to
have been interviewed. Of the six cases raised before the
human rights cell by our Embassy, in only one--the apparent
extra-judicial killing of Kancha Dongol in Kathmandu on March
15, 2002 (Refs A and D)--has any punishment been meted out.
(Note: The concerned battalion also has been excluded from
US-funded military training because of evidence of gross
human rights violations. End note.) On January 13, 2003,
the human rights cell reported its findings to the Embassy:
that Dongol was shot while trying to escape. Two sergeants
remain in RNA custody for dereliction of duty in permitting
the attempted escape. Poloff reiterated past statements to
the cell that a photograph of Dongol's corpse reveals a wound
in the temple from a bullet apparently fired from close
range, as well as indications of torture (Ref D). She also
asked if any of the five other men arrested with Dongol (one
of whom claimed to have been a witness to his killing) had
been questioned; the cell had not contacted them. On January
15 a member of the cell told poloff the JAG was not satisfied
with the previous investigation and was reviewing the
possibility of reopening the case.


5. (C) In two of the other cases raised by the Embassy, the
RNA had admitted mistakenly killing innocent civilians
(including two adolescents) and has recommended to the
civilian government that the families be paid compensation.
(Note: Purported eyewitnesses to one of these killings--that
of a 12-year-old girl--have told human rights groups and the
local press that the security forces took the child from her
home to a field and shot her. The RNA contends the girl
failed to heed an order to stop during a cordon-and-search
operation in her village. End note.) In the remaining three
cases raised by the Embassy, the soldiers involved were
exonerated. (Note: Two other cases raised by the Embassy
have apparently not yet been investigated. End note.) Of
the two cases raised by the Germans, one officer was
disciplined by being denied admission to staff college for a
year; in the other, all involved were exonerated.

--------------
RAPE ALLEGATIONS DRAW ATTENTION;
INDICATIONS OF COVER-UP
--------------


6. (SBU) One of the cases raised by the Embassy was the
alleged custodial rape committed against two teenaged female
cousins by two officers at Chisapani Barracks in Nepalgunj,
Banke District in April, which was published in Amnesty
International's December 19 report on Nepal. Amnesty's
account of the incident, which contained the names of both
victims and one of the alleged perpetrators, was picked up
and broadcast widely by the local media. (Note: Amnesty has
since been criticized by a number of local NGOs and others
for printing the girls' names. End note.) The local BBC
correspondent's interview with one of the girls was also
aired December 19. In the days following publication of the
report, Amnesty International and a local human rights group
charged that Captain Ramesh Swar, one of the alleged
perpetrators, and Major Ajit Thapa, his immediate superior,
had threatened and intimidated the girls and their families
into publicly recanting their statements. Military guards
were posted at the girls' home, and the girls were prevented
from communicating with human rights workers, several sources
said. The state-owned media subsequently broadcast a
statement by one of the girls, in which she declared nothing
had happened to her during her detention at the barracks. On
December 31 the Chief District Officer in Banke District (the
highest-ranking civil servant in the district, the CDO is an
employee of the Home Ministry) held a public meeting in which
one of the girls and members of her family recanted the
previous allegations of rape.


7. (C) According to Mandira Sharma of the human rights NGO
The Advocacy Forum (protect),Captain Swar, Major Thapa, and
others in the RNA had threatened the girls and their family
members with harm unless they took back their statements.
Sharma's organization had first documented the case in April,
and helped obtain psychological counseling for both girls and
medication for one who was experiencing excessive bleeding.
According to what the girls told Sharma (and, subsequently,
the BBC correspondent),they were detained by the Captain in
an effort to extort money from an uncle, who is apparently a
local smuggler. After the rapes, the Captain reportedly
continued to harrass the girls and their families for money.
Sharma said she suggested the girls speak with Amnesty
International investigators during their field investigation
in September, which they agreed to do. After the report was
published, however, the threats against the girls and other
family members escalated, according to Sharma. The Advocacy
Forum lawyer who initially took the girls' statements
reported being threatened as well; the NGO has since moved
him to Kathmandu for his own protection. With RNA guards
posted outside their houses, the families of the girls
apparently felt they had no option but to recant their
statements, Sharma said.


8. (C) Members of the RNA human rights cell have already
completed an initial investigation into the incident,
recommended no cause for action since the girls have
retracted their statements, and have forwarded their report
to the Chief of Army Staff for approval. (Note: Both Captain
Swar and Major Thapa remained in their posts at Chisapani
Barracks after the story first broke and throughout the
course of the investigation. End note.) RNA investigators
apparently did not question anyone other than the girls, some
family members, and RNA soldiers as part of their inquiry.
Local religious leaders who knew of the incident, the owner
of a local pharmacy where one of the girls sought medical
treatment, the human rights organization that brought the
allegations, and the BBC correspondent who interviewed one of
the girls were not contacted. JAG Brigadier General B A
Sharma, who heads the human rights cell, asserted that the
RNA had to post guards at the house for the girls' own
protection. Sharma acknowledged in retrospect that the RNA
should not have allowed the accused to remain in a position
of authority in the area after allegations were made and the
investigation was ongoing, and also tacitly admitted the
potential for intimidation under such circumstances. That
said, he concluded, "what to do?" if the girls have already
dropped charges. Nor did members of the cell appear puzzled
that unmarried girls in a conservative society should
fabricate allegations of rape. One investigator, brushing
aside evidence that the girls had recounted their stories
independently to the human rights organization months before
and to the media, speculated that enemies of the family had
manufactured the story to defame the girls and/or
"communalists" (the girls are Muslim) had spread it to create
ill will between the RNA and the local population.

--------------
WHAT TO DO?
--------------


9. (C) Comment: Domestic insurgencies tend to be nasty,
bloody and vicious. The Maoists have amply demonstrated on
countless occasions their own willingness to inflict savage
abuses on the beleaguered civilian population. We are
prepared to believe that most of the human rights abuses
ascribed to the RNA can be attributed to lack of training and
discipline, poor intelligence, and fear instilled in soldiers
by chronic Maoist brutality. We believe that our ongoing
training is ameliorating some of this incompetence. The
Banke rape case, however, appears to be a particularly
egregious example of a criminal assault for criminal purposes
not even nominally related to the insurgency. We have
impressed on the RNA and on others in the GON the need to
demonstrate accountability, and our ongoing dialogue with
high-ranking officers appears to resonate, at least on a
rhetorical plane. Unfortunately, however, the RNA's
ham-fisted handling of this case raises serious doubts about
the integrity of its investigative processes. The Embassy
plans to raise this concern with senior military leaders,
emphasizing that continued USG military assistance is closely
linked to evidence of greater accountability. At the same
time, with our British colleagues, we plan to engage with the
human rights cell on a more sustained basis, demanding more
thorough and more impartial investigations, encouraging more
appropriate penalties, and sharing best practices. In this
context, we plan to include in this year's MPP requests for
additional resources to support further human rights training
for the RNA, civilian police and Armed Police Force, as well
as assistance to the RNA to upgrade investigation techniques
and capabilities for its human rights cell.

MALINOWSKI