NEPAL: SEVEN BHUTANESE REFUGEES ARRESTED AS

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 001054

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR SA/INS, PRM/ANE; LONDON FOR POL/GURNEY; NSC FOR
MILLARD; GENEVA FOR PLYNCH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/08/2014
TAGS: PREF PTER PHUM NP BH
SUBJECT: NEPAL: SEVEN BHUTANESE REFUGEES ARRESTED AS
SUSPECTED MAOISTS; OTHERS FLEE

REF: KATHMANDU 594

Classified By: DCM Robert K. Boggs for reasons 1.5 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: According to various media reports and UNHCR
sources, seven Bhutanese refugees, including one minor, were
arrested in the Beldangi Refugee Camp on suspicion of being
connected to the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist). One of
the refugees arrested reportedly was found in possession of
Maoist literature, a home-made pistol and ammunition. Two of
the seven, including the minor, were subsequently released.
UNHCR is attempting to assure due process for the arrested
refugees. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) According to media reports, three Bhutanese refugees
were arrested in Jhapa District on June 2 and another four
the following day on suspicion of being Maoists. All of the
arrestees were from the Beldangi Bhutanese Refugee Camp.
According to the reports, the principal suspect was Chandra
Bahadur Prasain, who was found in possession of a home-made
pistol, ammunition and Maoist literature. Two of the
suspects, Parbati Khadka and Januka Tiwari, have subsequently
been released. As a result of the arrests, the reports
conclude, upwards of 100 other "suspected Maoists" have fled
the camp.


3. (C) UNHCR Protection Officer Giulia Ricciarelli (please
protect) confirmed the arrests through her staff in Beldangi
Camp. According to Ricciarelli's sources, Nepali Armed
Police (APF) personnel, in the presence of the camp secretary
(a refugee representative) and the camp supervisor (a GON
official),made the arrests in broad daylight. Nepali
security forces later confirmed the arrests, and the release
of two of the suspects, to UNHCR. UNHCR is attempting to
assure due process for the arrested refugees.


4. (C) Ricciareli stated that the Beldangi Camp rumor mill
had long whispered that Nepali security forces suspected
anywhere from 30 to 200 refugees of being connected with the
Maoists. (NOTE: Nepali security forces withdrew from all of
the refugee camps after a Maoist attack on a nearby police
post in September 2003. Since March 2004, APF has had a
presence on the outskirts of the Beldangi Camp. There is no
security presence at the other camps. END NOTE.) Thus, the
arrests did not come as a surprise to UNHCR, nor did the
stories of other refugees fleeing the camp. Ricciarelli
lamented that UNHCR had been warning that conditions in all
of the refugee camps, particularly due to growing frustration
with the stalled repatriation process, made the camps ripe
for increasing militancy (Reftel). Ricciarelli indicated
that Beldangi Camp was considered the "most politicized" of
the camps. She added, however, that UNHCR was not aware of
any Maoist forced recruitment in the camps.


5. (C) COMMENT: This is a most unfortunate, but perhaps not
unexpected, development. While the arrests might argue for
increasing the pace of verification and a beginning of
immediate repatriation, these events could equally be used by
the Bhutanese to justify further delay. Moreover, any real
or suspected connection between the Bhutanese refugee
population and the Maoists only serves to increase the myriad
risks to an already vulnerable population. The sole
positives were the style with which the arrests were carried
out, in broad daylight and under the auspices of refugee and
GON observers, and the speed with which those no longer under
suspicion were released. END COMMENT.
BOGUE