UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, APRIL 24-30,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 000833

SIPDIS

STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/IP/NEA
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TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL/DAUFHAUSER AND DAS JZARATE
TREASURY ALSO FOR OFAC/RNEWCOMB AND TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST
FINANCING
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PINS PTER CASC PGOV NP PHUM
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON NEPAL'S MAOIST INSURGENCY, APRIL 24-30,
2004

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


1. The Royal Nepal Army spokesperson indicated that the
Army is ready for a permanent peace and would support
government-Maoists talks. Since the end of the cease-fire,
RNA figures indicate that 1,973 Maoists and 176 security
personnel have been killed. The RNA also reported that
approximately 940 Maoists have surrendered since the
government's amnesty offer, and the Home Ministry has
extended the deadline until July 15. There are widespread
reports of government officials resigning following Maoist
threats. The Maoists claimed responsibility for shooting
and critically injuring the government-appointed mayor of
Butwal on April 27, because he refused to resign from his
post. A senior Maoist leader admitted that the Maoists used
Indian soil for their April 7 attack on the police post,
during which 39 policemen were taken hostage, in Ilam
District and would continue to use Indian territory "to
achieve their political goals." The Maoists released the
abducted policemen into International Committee for the Red
Cross' (ICRC) custody the afternoon of April 30.


2. Summary Continued. The U.S. Embassy received a
disturbing, second-hand report about a young European girl
being detained by a group of armed Maoists for about 24
hours while she was trekking outside of Kathmandu. Another
woman on the same trek reported anti-American and anti-
royalist banners and graffiti along the trail. The Maoists
bombed a regional office of the Geneva-based Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) located in far western Nepal on April 27.
LWF recently ceased its rural operations in the region
following a Maoist extortion demand. End Summary.

RNA PREPARED TO END THE MAOIST INSURGENCY
--------------


3. During a press briefing on April 27, newly appointed
Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) chief spokesperson, Brigadier
General Rajendra Thapa stated that the RNA is ready to "end
the war" with the Maoist insurgents and is prepared to
"inflict the minimum damage possible" for "a permanent
peace." Thapa mentioned that the RNA would support talks
between government forces and the Maoists. Thapa also
indicated that according to RNA figures, 1,973 Maoists and
176 RNA have been killed since the end of the cease-fire in
August 2003.


4. Since the Government's amnesty offer in December 2003,
RNA figures also show that 940 Maoists have surrendered to
security forces. The Home Ministry extended the deadline for
Maoists to surrender until July 15. Press reports indicate
that Dambar Singh (alias Sundar),section commander of the
Maoists' "Seti Brigade," surrendered to the Armed Police on
April 27.


5. The RNA's Department of Military Training reportedly
decided to introduce human rights training at the basic
recruit training level and revise the curriculum of other
senior training courses as a result of domestic and
international concern about human rights abuses.

MAOISTS TARGET GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
AND DISTRICT HEADQUARTERS
--------------


6. The Mayor of Butwal Municipality, Puna Ram Pokhrel, is
recovering from bullet wounds to the head following an
attack on April 27. Reports indicate that Maoists had
recently ordered Pokhrel, a National Democratic Party (RPP)
activist and government-appointed official, to resign from
his post. The Maoists later claimed responsibility for the
attack.


7. Reports allege that 65 Village Development Committee
(VDC) secretaries from Morang District (in eastern Nepal)
decided to resign from their posts following death threats
from the Maoists. According to news reports, the Maoists
gave the VDC secretaries a one-week ultimatum and exploded
pressure cooker bombs at 36 VDC buildings to pressure the
secretaries into compliance with their demands. As a result

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of this mass resignation, government work normally handled
at the village level will be shifted to the government's
district offices.


8. Similar news reports of government resignations are
surfacing from Kanchanpur District headquarters (the far-
western region) following Maoist threats. The Maoists
announced a one-month long protest against Kanchanpur's
district headquarters, specifically targeted at government
representatives and vehicles. In addition, a Maoist protest
program reportedly will attempt to blockade all supplies
into the district headquarters. The Maoists have also
announced an indefinite economic blockade in the northern
parts of Dhading District (west of Kathmandu) in retaliation
for the death of Maoist leaders earlier in the month.


9. The Eastern Development Region Administrator, Lalit
Bahadur Thapa, reported that damage by the Maoists over the
past eight years amounts to more than NRs. 555 million
(approximately USD 7.5 million). However, this figure,
according to Thapa, does not include losses caused by the
attack on Bhojpur district headquarters or on the police
post in Ilam District.

MAOISTS CONTINUE TO USE INDIAN SOIL
--------------


10. On April 24 in Gulmi, Bam Dev Chhetri, Maoist Central
Committee Member, told journalists that the Maoists would
continue to use Indian territory "to achieve their political
goals." Chhetri then admitted to journalists that the
Maoists had used Indian territory during their attack on the
police post in Ilam district on April 7, during which 41
policemen were taken into Maoist custody.

MAOISTS TO RELEASE 39 POLICEMEN
--------------

11. The Maoists released the 39 police hostages (one
refused to be handed over to the government authorities)
into the custody of the International Committee for the Red
Cross (ICRC) during an official ceremony with journalists
present the afternoon of April 30. The insurgents took the
40 policemen hostage following an April 7 attack on a police
post in Ilam district. Prior to the hostages' release, ICRC
encouraged the RNA to halt its search and rescue operations
in four districts (including Tehrathum, Panchthar,
Sankhuwasabha and Taplejung) and "create a favorable
environment for their release." The RNA ceased its
operations in those districts on April 28.


MAOISTS CONDUCT POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS;
FORCED RECRUITMENT CONTINUES
--------------


12. Maoists continue to force villagers to participate in
their political events. Maoists have reportedly abducted
200 students from Doti District, 200 students from Darchula
Districts and 150 villagers from Baitadi District and forced
them to attend Maoist "political trainings." There are
various reports in eastern districts that the Maoists plan
to intensify forced recruitment campaigns, demanding one
person from each family for their militia. A vernacular
paper (far-left, Maoist sympathetic) referenced a statement
that Prachanda made during an internal speech this week
which indicated that the Maoists intended to use youths and
villagers as "human shields" during a "big attack" in
eastern Nepal "sometime in the next two to three months."

FROM THE EYES OF A YOUNG EUROPEAN
--------------


7. The U.S. Embassy has received a disturbing, second-hand
report of a young European girl living in Kathmandu being
detained by a group of armed Maoists for approximately 24
hours while trekking in the Helambu (formerly a popular
trekking destination about 1 -2 days northeast of
Kathmandu). During the encounter, the girl was forced to
make statements and other actions in support of the Maoists,
which were videotaped by the insurgents. She was told that
the video would be used "for propaganda purposes" before she
was released. Another woman on the same trekking route
reported that she did not encounter Maoists, but did see a
number of banners and wall graffiti along the trail with
slogans like "Murder the King" and "Murder Americans," in
English along with other Nepali phrases that she could not
read. This woman had heard that there was a major Maoist
gathering along the trail recently.

LUTHERAN WORLD FEDERATION OFFICE TARGETED
--------------


8. The Lutheran World Federation regional office in Kailali
District (far western Nepal) received an extortion demand
from the Maoists about 2 weeks ago. The Geneva-based INGO
refused to pay the demand and instead decided to draw down
its rural offices and cease all LWF funded activities
throughout the country this week. On 27 April, Maoists
detonated a bomb at the LWF office in Kailali District.
Three Maoists were killed during the blast.


BOGUE