PRIME MINISTER AND MAOIST LEADER MEET DURING

S E C R E T KATHMANDU 001563 SIPDIS NOFORN SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/16/2016 TAGS: PGOV PTER EAID NP SUBJECT: PRIME MINISTER AND MAOIST LEADER MEET DURING ONGOING TALKS REF: A. 05 KATHMANDU 2556 ¶B. KATHMANDU 1373 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Larry Schwartz. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (S/NF) The Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs advisor told us June 16 that during the first meeting since Prime Minister Koirala resumed the post, Koirala and Maoist leader Prachanda agreed earlier in the day on the dissolution of Parliament in about two months but that Parliament would be restored if constituent assembly elections were not held within a year. This agreement, unlikely to be announced for some time, follows a June 15 four-point agreement reached by the government and Maoist negotiating teams. They agreed to have a five-member Nepali team observe the talks between the two sides; form a 31-member committee to monitor the Code of Conduct; and to request the UN's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to also monitor the Code of Conduct. Hannes Siebert (protect),the US-AID funded contractor working with the government on the peace process, told Charge that the sides had also secretly formed a four-lawyer committee to draft an interim constitution. End Summary. MAOIST LEADER AND PM KOIRALA AGREE ON DISSOLUTION OF PARLIAMENT -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) Prime Minister Koirala's Foreign Affairs Advisor, Dr. Suresh Chalise, told ADCM that Maoist leader Prachanda and PM Koirala, during their June 16 talks, had secretly agreed on the dissolution of Parliament. According to Chalise, the Maoists had insisted on dissolving Parliament, and the government, showing "flexibility," had agreed on the condition that Parliament would again be restored if there were no constituent assembly elections within a year. Chalise suggested that the government might dissolve Parliament in two months. Chalise said that PM Koirala continued to recognize that the main problem was the management of Maoist arms. Chalise stressed that the government remained firm in its position that there must be a permanent management of arms before the Maoists can be inducted into government. He noted that an essential outcome of the talks must be a clear message to the people of Nepal that the Maoists will not be able to carry their guns again. ¶3. (C) Prachanda, his wife, and his deputy, Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, arrived from Pokhara the morning of June 16 in a commercial helicopter for the talks at the Prime Minister's residence. The discussion between the PM and Prachanda was relatively brief, and was followed by another round of talks between the negotiating teams led by Home Minister Sitaula and Maoist spokesperson Mahara. The PM's Military Advisor, Ramesh Jung Thapa, confirmed that Maoists had provided their own security surrounding the talks. However, Thapa told us the talks between the PM and Prachanda were preliminary, and that no decisions would be announced. Thapa noted that the talks between Mahara and Sitaula would continue while the Prime Minister was in Bangkok June 17-24 for medical care. PARTIES - MAOISTS REACH FOUR POINT AGREEMENT -------------- ¶4. (SBU) The leaders' meeting in Kathmandu capped a second round of peace talks on June 15 led by Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula and Maoist spokesperson Krishna Bahadur Mahara in the capital. Following talks, negotiators from the seven-party alliance and Maoists signed a four point agreement. They agreed to: -- Form a 31-member Ceasefire Code of Conduct National Monitoring Committee, which Home Minister Sitaula said would be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the Party-Maoist 12-point understanding (ref A) and the 25-point Code of Conduct (ref B). The head of the Citizen's Movement for Peace and Democracy and former Minister of Finance (1990) Devendra Raj Pandey will head the 31-member committee. -- Hold further talks under the observation of a committee of five Nepali civil society leaders. Sitaula announced that names of the observation committee: Former Supreme Court Justice Laxman Prasad Aryal, Dr. Devendra Raj Pandey (who also heads the Monitoring Committee),Padma Ratna Tuladhar, Damanath Dhungana and Dr. Mathura Prasad Shrestha. -- Request the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to assist the truce monitoring committee and to monitor human rights. -- Hold direct talks between Prime Minister (PM) Koirala and Maoist leader Prachanda soon. Maoist talks team leader Mahara said the summit talks would focus on constituent assembly elections and arms management. POLITICAL LEADERS: POSITIVE STEP, BUT WILL REQUIRE COORDINATION -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) Arjun Narsingh K.C., Central Committee Member Nepali Congress (NC) said the formation of the monitoring and observer committees was a positive development, however, he believed a 31-member committee was too big to be effective. He lamented that the idea to form the committees was discussed by the Cabinet but not with the central committee members of the political parties. He stressed that the most important outstanding issue was the management of weapons. Minendra Rijal, Central Committee Member, Nepali Congress-Democratic (NC-D),and Jhalanath Khanal, Central Committee Member, CPN-UML, both agreed that the formation of the committees was positive, but noted there would be an important need for coordination between the committees and the government. ¶6. (S) Hannes Siebert, the USAID-funded contractor heading the Transition for Peace Initiative (protect),told Charge d'Affaires the morning of June 16 that he and his team were working on draft terms of reference for the 31-member monitoring committee, whom he noted were jointly agreed upon. Siebert said that his group was also drafting instructions for the observer group. Siebert worried that the peace process was "moving a little too fast." He noted that there has not been time to secure what the two sides have agreed upon or a clear picture of how the various working groups and committees that have been established will mesh. Siebert commented that in the texts of agreements signed to date, the government had not yet made dangerous concessions to the Maoists, but his colleague added that the government has not been able "to tie down the Maoists yet." COMMITTEE TO DRAFT AN INTERIM CONSTITUTION -------------- ¶7. (S/NF) Siebert said that the government and Maoists had appointed a secret committee to draft an interim constitution. Siebert asked that the new committee not be discussed publicly as its existence would not be revealed for two weeks, after the Prime Minister and Prachanda reached agreement. Siebert described the group as "fairly high-level lawyers" from both sides: two Maoist lawyers (who also participate in a group with the three Maoist negotiators) and two GON lawyers. Siebert said the committee's mandate was to sort out the two sides' different roadmaps, draft a framework agreement, and establish guidelines for an interim government. COMMENT -------------- ¶8. (C) The peace process is happening at a breakneck pace and the speed at which things are moving is breathtaking to nearly all observers. While all seem to agree that reaching an agreement on the decommissioning of Maoist arms will be the determining factor in the negotiations' success or ultimate failure. In the meantime, a successful monitoring mechanism that will give teeth to the Code of Conduct is critical. Quickly finding an independent funding mechanism for the 31-man monitoring committee, plus the additional field personnel to come, is essential so that it can be up and running as soon as possible. As it stands, there is still no coherent structure for monitoring the Code of Conduct as the Maoists continue to violate the Code through extortion and recruitment of cadre, as evidenced by the June 15 discovery of a dead 19-year old abducted by Maoists six days ago in central Sindhupalchowk District. SCHWARTZ