NEPAL: MAOISTS SUSPEND BLOCKADE OF KATHMANDU VALLEY

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 001698

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS, DS/IP/SA
NSC FOR GREEN/DORMANDY
LONDON FOR POL-BELL

E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/25/2014
TAGS: PTER PGOV ASEC NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: MAOISTS SUSPEND BLOCKADE OF KATHMANDU VALLEY

REF: A. 8/24/04 TELCONS


B. KATHMANDU 1688

C. KATHMANDU 1679

D. KATHMANDU 1667

E. KATHMANDU 1658

F. KATHMANDU 1644

Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty, Reasons 1.4 (b/d)


1. (U) On the evening of August 24, the joint district
committees of CPN-Maoists in three districts issued a
statement announcing they were suspending the blockade of the
Kathmandu Valley for a month. They warned that they would
start more severe actions in a month if the government did
not meet their demands for making public the whereabouts of
people who have disappeared, releasing certain detained
Maoist supporters and sympathizers, and probing the killings
of certain Maoist commanders. The same district committees
had called for the blockade of Kathmandu Valley on August 18.
On August 21, the government said that it would make public
the whereabouts of missing Maoist leaders within a month.


2. (C) COMMENT. The Deuba government deserves credit for
doing a number of things right subsequent to the Maoist
announcement of a blockade against Kathmandu. First and most
importantly, the government mobilized the security forces to
provide protection to vehicles traveling the affected
highways. Subsequently, the Prime Minister and his
colleagues made serious efforts to manage public impressions.
Those efforts included not only briefings for the press and
diplomatic corps but also a flight in a helicopter to show
members of the media traffic flowing along the highways
supposedly closed by the Maoists. And finally, the
government's action in providing compensation to transporters
who suffered losses to the Maoists probably was the straw
that broke the blockade's back. The Maoists had proven their
point that they could use fear to close the roads into
Kathmandu at least for a brief period of time. They lifted
the blockade because the government was about to prove that
it had the power to force the reopening of those roads. End
Comment.
MORIARTY