UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, APRIL 17-23,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 000782 SIPDIS STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/IP/NEA STATE ALSO PLEASE PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA STATE ALSO PLEASE PASS PEACE CORPS HQ USAID FOR ANE/AA GORDON WEST AND JIM BEVER MANILA FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA LONDON FOR POL/GURNEY TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL/DAUFHAUSER AND DAS JZARATE TREASURY ALSO FOR OFAC/RNEWCOMB AND TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST FINANCING JUSTICE FOR OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL/DLAUFMAN NSC FOR MILLARD SECDEF FOR OSD/ISA LILIENFELD E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PINS PTER CASC PGOV NP PHUM SUBJECT: UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, APRIL 17-23, 2004 REFERENCE: (A) KATHMANDU 0588 (B) KATHMANDU 0722 SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. The Home Minister ruled out talks with the Maoists until they stop their violence. Sporadic clashes reportedly left four security force personnel and twenty-five Maoists dead. Maoist supremo Prachanda announced a month-long agenda of "peoples' action" to include a three-day nationwide closure (bandh) beginning May 18-20. Maoists reportedly have intensified forced recruitment campaigns, demanding one person from each family for their militia. Maoist imposed sanctions in the mid-west have severely limited supplies and services to the area. Maoist violence claimed the lives of seven civilians and injured six others. End Summary. HOME MINISTER RULES OUT TALKS -------------- ¶2. On April 18, Home Minister Kamal Thapa told an audience of local security chiefs, journalists and businessmen that the Government of Nepal (GON) was ready to resume dialogue with the Maoists if they gave up violence and killing. Minister Thapa said the Maoists cannot be trusted, and reiterated his claim that the rebels had used the previous two ceasefires to build up their so-called "Peoples' Army." He criticized the rebels for unilaterally breaking the ceasefire both times and following the path of violence. CLASHES LEAVE 29 DEAD -------------- ¶3. Sporadic clashes left four security force personnel and twenty-five Maoists dead this week. A Royal Nepal Army (RNA) soldier was killed in Janakpur District, and another in the eastern district of Mahottari on April 21. On that same day, a police constable was gunned down at his home in Taplejung District, bordering India on the east, on April ¶21. A Maoist attack on a police post in Rautahat on April 18 left one police officer dead and another injured. There has been no word on the status of forty-one policemen taken hostage by the Maoists after the insurgents attacked their police post on April 7 in the district of Ilam (Ref A). Appeals for their release have been ignored. ¶4. Twenty-six Maoists were killed during security operations: two in Nuwakot District, just north of Kathmandu, one in the western district of Dang, and one in Gulmi District on April 22, one in Sarlahi District and one in Taplejung on April 21; one in Taplejung on April 20; eight in the districts of Lamjung, Dhading and Kailali on April 19; four in Panchthar and Bardia on April 18; two in Sunsari and one in Ilam on April 17; and four in Panchthar and Dhanusha on April 16. MAOISTS ANNOUNCE 3-DAY STRIKE -------------- ¶5. On April 22, Maoist supremo Prachanda announced a month- long agenda of "peoples' action" to include a three-day nationwide closure (bandh) beginning May 18-20. The statement, posted on the Maoist website and signed by both Prachanda and Baburam Bhattarai, also called on the political parties to join the Maoists and "wage a unified and powerful agitation" against the "decaying and feudalistic" monarchy. The Maoist Chairman also proclaimed that Nepal is on the "threshold of epoch-making revolution," because of the "peoples' war" and it was time to establish a "democratic republic." MAOISTS CONDUCT POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS; FORCED RECRUITMENT CONTINUES -------------- ¶6. Maoists continue to force villagers to participate in their political campaigns, rounding up dozens of youths in the western district of Bajura, and the eastern districts of Ilam and Sankhuwasabha. According to the local press, the youths were forced to attend Maoist "political training," and were confined to a house. In the eastern district of Panchthar, Maoists reportedly also have intensified forced recruitment campaigns, demanding one person from each family for their militia. The rebels reportedly have threatened to impose a fine of USD 715, an exorbitant amount in that region, to those families who refuse. On April 21 the rebels had gathered over 1,000 people from the area to participate in a general assembly in which it was rumored that Maoist ideologue Baburam Bhattarai would address the crowd. They were released the following day after the Maoists said the program was canceled. ¶7. On April 22, the Nation Human Rights Commission (NHRC) urged the Maoists to respect humanitarian laws, and to release all abductees immediately. The press statement also questioned the party's public claims to be adhering to the Geneva Convention, while their actions appear to be in violation. WEST SUFFERS UNDER MAOISTS AND SECURITY FORCES -------------- - ¶8. Maoist imposed sanctions in the mid-western districts of Salyan and Jajarkot have severely limited supplies and services to the area. The sanctions, in effect since February 8, were imposed by the rebels in an effort to cut off supplies to security forces. Locals must submit to check posts, and are required to obtain permission from the rebels to leave the district headquarters. Telephone and postal services reportedly are under the control of the Maoists. ¶9. In nearby Accham District, the Royal Nepal Army (RNA) reportedly has blocked the transport of food, medicine and supplies to parts of the district following last week's aerial attack launched by security forces on an assembly of Maoists at a secondary school in the far western district of Accham that killed five civilians (Ref B). The local press quotes a source as saying that the blockade is necessary to prevent Maoists from looting the supplies as they have done in the past. Dozens of schools reportedly also remain closed in the district following that attack. INNOCENT KILLED BY MAOIST VIOLENCE -------------- ¶10. Maoist violence claimed the lives of seven civilians and injured six others. On April 22, Maoists gunned down an inspector with the National Investigation Department (NID) at a wedding ceremony. April 21, a gang of Maoists hacked to death a 24 year-old man in the Dhangadi District, and also shot dead a former ward chairman in the far eastern district of Panchthar. On April 19, in the eastern district of Rautahat, Maoists killed three civilians: a former cadre whom they accused of spying, a former Armed Police Force (APF) officer, and another youth at a sporting event. On April 18, one elderly civilian was killed and two injured in Bara District when Maoists exploded a bomb in a nearby house. On that same day in Kapilbastu District, four people were injured from a Maoist-planted bomb. On April 18, Maoists abducted a sixty-five year old woman in Nuwakot District, north of Kathmandu, accusing her of being a spy for security forces. The rebels bombed her house before leaving, completely destroying it. She was released five days later. BOGGS