BHUTAN MOVING TOWARDS REPATRIATION OF CATEGORY ONE

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 NEW DELHI 006976

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/26/2004
TAGS: PREL PHUM PREF IN NP PHUM PREF IN NP BT UNHCR
SUBJECT: BHUTAN MOVING TOWARDS REPATRIATION OF CATEGORY ONE

REFUGEES

THE FOLLOWING IS A REPEAT OF NEW DELHI 6920, DATED 10/29/2004,
SENT ACTION SECSTATE, INFO BEIJING, COLOMBO, DHAKA, ISLAMABAD,
KATHMANDU, LONDON, MOSCOW, TOKYO, CALCUTTA, CHENNAI, MUMBAI,
USPACOM HONOLULU, USCENTCOM MACDILL, PACOM IDHS HONOLULU,
GENEVA, AND USUN NEW YORK - BEING REPEATED FOR YOUR INFO.

QUOTE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/26/2014
TAGS: PREL PHUM PREF IN NP PHUM PREF IN NP BT UNHCR
SUBJECT: BHUTAN MOVING TOWARDS REPATRIATION OF CATAGORY ONE
REFUGEES

Classified By: A/DCM Walter E. North, Reasons 1.4 (B,D).


1. (C) Summary: During an October 24 meeting with PRM A/S
Dewey, King Jigme Wangchuck of Bhutan agreed that Category 1
refugees from the Khudunabari Camp could be repatriated and
that the Government of Nepal (GON) and the Royal Government
of Bhutan (RGOB) should exchange a letter specifying the
modalities. King Wangchuck also commented, off the record,
that this refugee situation is unique because Nepal and
Bhutan have an open border with India and that many of the
refugees are Indian. He stated that in private negotiations,
the GON has not been overly concerned about the refugee
situation. Third country resettlement is not an important
part of the solution, according to the King. He said the
conditions of return had been stipulated and are in line with
Bhutanese citizenship law. The willingness of the King to
move on the Category 1 refugees in Khudunabari Camp who had
already been verified by the Bhutanese and Nepalese Joint
Verification Teams departed significantly from the message
A/S Dewey had heard previously from senior RGOB officials who
held that all the Categories from all the camps must be
considered before repatriation could start. End Summary.

An Open Door for Category 1 Refugees?
--------------


2. (C) In an October 24 meeting, A/S Dewey appealed to King
Jigme Wangchuck to help break the impasse over the refugee
situation in southern Nepal by agreeing to take back Category
1 refugees from the Khudunabari Camp. The King agreed to the
proposal, but stipulated that the GON and the RGOB must first
draft a letter setting forth the modalities of how
repatriation would take place. He promised to instruct his
Ambassador to India to work with the Nepalese Ambassador to
draft the letter, and after the language was finalized, the
GON would send the letter to Thimphu. King Wangchuck stated
that the process must be portrayed as a bilateral initiative
) and not as a proposal advanced by an outside party. He
emphasized the need to inform India of this initiative, and
asked A/S Dewey to request that Ambassador Mulford brief the
Indian Ministry of External Affairs. The King requested that
Ambassador Moriarty similarly inform Minister of State Mahat
in Kathmandu and support this initiative with Nepal. In a
meeting with Foreign Minister Khandu Wangchuk after a lunch
hosted for the U.S. delegation by the King, the Foreign
Minister was instructed to oversee the joint drafting of the
letters with Minister Mahat.

Indian "Refugees?"
--------------


3. (C) The King also asserted that a large number of camp
residents are Indians and that the camps serve as a magnet
due to the high quality of services UNHCR provides compared
to surrounding areas. He professed surprise that the number
of refugees was not higher than 100,000, because of the
discrepancy in services offered inside and outside the camps.
He argued that the international community should stop
providing services in the camps that are not found in the
surrounding area. The King also criticized UNHCR policy of
requiring refugees to obtain daily passes to leave the camps,
stating that it limited the free movement of people between
Nepal and India. He mentioned that the RGOB knows of 2,000
people who have voluntarily left the camps, without receiving
passes, to work and visit family members in India. These
people should be allowed to chose where they work and travel,
he argued, because immigration laws of all three countries
allow it.

Nepal-Bhutan Talks
--------------


4. (C) Private talks between the GON and RGOB have been very
good and there has been a frank exchange of ideas, commented
King Wangchuck. While the official GON line is that all the
refugees are Bhutanese, the GON knows they are ethnic
Nepalese and has no reservations about them staying in Nepal,
he added. Two to three million people from Bihar currently
live in the region of the camps, and the GON would prefer the
100,000 refugees settle there, because it would increase the
Nepalese percentage of the population. However, the GON
cannot admit this, he continued because it is politically too
risky, and no government in Kathmandu has come to power
supporting a mandate on a controversial issue. Also, with
all the problems Nepal is facing, the government can at least
boast that it is taking care of 100,000 refugees, even though
it is not paying for any of the services, commented the King.


5. (C) King Wangchuck stated that the GON goal soon after
the refugee crisis began was to increase the numbers of
people in the camps from 6,000 to over 100,000 to ensure that
UNHCR would have to get involved and provide support. The
King then reiterated the Bhutanese complaint that UNHCR had
compounded the problem by not adequately screening refugees.
He doubted they could remain neutral after 12 years as "judge
and jury" and consistently calling the people in the camps
"Bhutanese Refugees." He added that while the RGOB has had
problems with the UNHCR, there was no point in "harping on
the past" and that it was time to move forward. If the UNHCR
stopped funding the camps it would not be a large problem,
because those refugees who could not find jobs in Nepal could
do so in India, he stated.

Third Country Resettlement
--------------


6. (C) There is no need for third country resettlement,
which is only a "hypothetical solution," the King maintained.
The refugee situation is "very unique, but very simple," he
argued, because all the refugees are from India, Nepal and
Bhutan and therefore only those three countries are needed
for a solution. The refugees are free to live and work in
India, Nepal and Bhutan, but only under the citizenship laws
of each country, he remarked. Because the people in the
camps are from one of the three counties, the refugees would
only become stateless by deciding to go the third country
resettlement route. While he welcomed that option, it was
not necessary.

Conditions of Return
--------------


7. (C) King Wangchuck stated that the RGOB had given UNHCR
and the GON the conditions of return prior to the December
2003 attack in the Khudunabari camp. Any issue involving
disbursement of land would be covered under Bhutanese law.
If a person had sold his land before leaving Bhutan, that
person would not be eligible to get it back or be given any
free acreage from the RGOB. However, the king noted that
those who had been illegally evicted would have the right to
get property back, and he fully expected that some returning
category 1 refugees would file cases to do so. The Joint
Verification Teams (JVT) had agreed to a liberal
interpretation of the law, but stressed they would not go so
far as to change property or citizenship laws, he commented.


8. (C) King Wangchuck assured A/S Dewey that there would be
no risk for return of Category 1 refugees, that they would be
fully protected by Bhutanese citizenship laws, and that the
numbers of returnees does not matter, as long as they were
bona fide Bhutanese citizens. A/S Dewey raised this again
with the Foreign Minister at the dinner he hosted in the
evening of October 24. The Foreign Minister reiterated
opposition to UNHCR or any international direct monitoring
saying, "you will have to trust us. But we would not dare
violate their citizenship rights given the number of UN
agencies accredited in Bhutan that will be watching."

Comment
--------------


9. (C) The King's decision to accept Category 1 refugees
from the Khudunabari camp, prior to completion of the JVT
surveys of the other camps, was a surprise response to A/S
Dewey,s personal appeal to try to find a way around the
seemingly impenetrable "swamp," rather than to keep
revisiting it. It was also a change from the message A/S
Dewey heard from other senior members of the RGOB, including
Prime Minister Yeshey Zimba and Minister of Foreign Affairs
Khandu Wangchuck. The two ministers repeated old RGOB
positions and focused on the history of the refugee
situation, the need for Bhutan to protect its national
security, the violence committed against the Bhutanese JVT
members, and a desire for recognition from the US for
Bhutanese support on Iraq and Article 98. The King clearly
took the matter in his own hands to set out a formula to get
by the impasse. He defined the concept, then instructed the
Foreign Minister to work out the details so that repatriation
of this discrete group could begin.

10. (U) A/S Dewey has cleared this cable.
MULFORD
UNQUOTE
MULFORD