PRACHANDA STRIKES OUT AGAINST MAOIST-ONLY

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 001984 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/25/2016 TAGS: PGOV PTER NP SUBJECT: PRACHANDA STRIKES OUT AGAINST MAOIST-ONLY DECOMMISSIONING REF: A. KATHMANDU 1744 ¶B. KATHMANDU 1576 Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) Maoist Supremo Prachanda sent a letter to United Nations (UN) Secretary General Kofi Annan July 24 protesting that the Government of Nepal (GON) had sent its July 2 request for assistance (ref A) to the UN without consulting the Maoists. The Maoist letter denounced the GON letter for referring to decommissioning Maoist weapons as opposed to "management of arms" language in the eight-point agreement (ref B). Seven Party Alliance (SPA) leaders acknowledged that the decommissioning language upset the Maoists but insisted that decommissioning was necessary and could be worked out in further negotiations. The Prime Minister's foreign policy advisor told DCM on July 25 that he would advise Prime Minister Koirala to telephone Secretary General Kofi Annan about UN involvement in Nepal. End Summary. PRACHANDA DECRIES GON'S PLAN TO DECOMMISSION ONLY MAOIST ARMY -------------- -------------- ¶2. (U) On July 24, Maoist leader Prachanda sent a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan stressing that "any talk of decommissioning only the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) arms before the election to the constituent assembly is just unthinkable." He noted his "strong protest and disagreement" over the Government of Nepal's July 2 letter, which he complained was written and sent unilaterally by the GON without any consultation with the Maoists. Prachanda's own letter to Annan refers to the June 16 eight-point agreement between the Maoists and the SPA, requesting the UN to assist in the "management of the armies of both sides" as compared to the July 2 letter sent by the GON that requested the UN to "assist in the monitoring of the combatants of the Maoists and decommissioning of their arms." Prachanda asserts that "such arbitrary and unilateral application of two different yardsticks to the two armies is highly objectionable and totally unacceptable to us." His letter ends, however, on a sweet note, saying that the Maoists will be happy to cooperate in any manner with the UN team planning to arrive in Nepal on July 26. POLITICOS CONFIDENT MAOIST DECOMMISSIONING CAN BE NEGOTIATED -------------- -------------- ¶3. (C) Political leaders were not overly concerned about Prachanda's letter to the UN, many stating that decommissioning could be achieved either through negotiation or as a precondition for Maoist participation in the peace process. Jhalanath Khanal, Central Committee Member of the CPN-UML, acknowledged that the GON decision to send the letter to the UN unilaterally had irked the Maoists but opined that arms decommissioning could be settled at the negotiation table without any problem. He argued that the Nepal Army should not be decommissioned. Minendra Rijal, Spokesperson for Nepali Congress-Democratic (NC-D),agreed that a misunderstanding had erupted between the SPA and the Maoists over arms decommissioning. He believed any issues could be resolved through the peace talks process. C.P. Mainali, General Secretary of the CPN-ML -- a small leftist party -- noted that the SPA and Maoists had only previously discussed arms management, not decommissioning, and thought the problem should be solved through negotiations. Anil Jha, Joint General Secretary of the Nepal Sadbhavana Party - Anandi Devi (NSP-A),stated that the Maoists should not have objected to the GON's letter to the UN because the Maoists would have to lay down their arms in any case before constituent elections. He added that the SPA could not even consider constituent assembly elections before the Maoist weapons were decommissioned. PRIME MINISTER NEEDS TO BE INVOLVED IN DECOMMISSIONING ISSUE -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) NSP-A leader Jha explained that Prime Minister G.P. Koirala was the only political leader whom the SPA and Maoist leaders respected enough to deal with the arms decommissioning issue. Suresh Chalise, the PM's international relations advisor, told DCM on July 25 that he was planning to advise PM Koirala to telephone UN General Secretary Annan to discuss UN involvement in Nepal. SIPDIS COMMENT -------------- ¶5. (C) A skilled tactician, Prachanda has sought to seize the initiative on the eve of the UN assessments team's visit to Nepal. Try as he might to reshape it, however, the issue of arms management/decommissioning remains the pressing question of the day. The arrival of the UN assessment team on July 26 should provide significant symbolic effect and a morale boost for those pushing for the decommissioning of Maoist weapons. However, the GON will still face the daunting task of working through the options on arms management/decommissioning and helping the UN to establish an effective role in Nepal's delicately balanced peace process. PRACHANDA'S LETTER -------------- ¶6. (U) The following is an unofficial version of Prachanda's letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Begin Text. H.E. Mr. Kofi Annan Secretary-General of the United Nations SIPDIS New York. Dear Mr. Secretary-General, This is to draw your attention to the letter sent to you by the Government of Nepal on 2 July 2006 and to register our strong protest and disagreement over certain crucial points of the letter. Firstly, the letter was written and sent unilaterally and secretively without any consultation with us in utter SIPDIS violation of the spirit of ongoing negotiations between the Government of Nepal and the C.P.N (Maoist). We came to know about the letter through the media after nearly three weeks, and hence this delay to register our disagreement over it. Secondly, and more importantly, the content of the letter, particularly as stated in points nos. 3 and 4, is in complete violation of the 12-point Understanding of 22 November 2005 and 8-point Agreement of 16 June 2006 reached between the two sides. For your kind recollection, clause-3 of the 8-point Agreement clearly states: "To request the United Nations to assist in the management of the armies and arms of both sides (emphasis added) and to monitor it for a free and fair election to the constituent assembly". Against this, the said letter self-professedly and provocatively talks of "Assist in the monitoring of the combatants of the Maoists and decommissioning of their arms" and "Monitor to assure that the Nepal Army is inside barracks" etc. Such arbitrary and unilateral application of two different yardsticks to the two armies is highly objectionable and totally unacceptable to us. Particularly any talk of "decommissioning" of arms of only the PLA before the election to the constituent assembly is just unthinkable. As everybody knows, the so-called Nepal Army is still loyal to the autocratic monarchy and its democratic restructuring and keeping under credible international monitoring is more imperative and important for free and fair election to the constituent assembly. We would like to reiterate our appreciation to the United Nations and to you personally for the positive role played so far in favour of democracy, peace and progress in Nepal and expect the same in future. We shall be happy to co-operate in any manner with the UN team planning to visit Nepal soon. Please accept, Excellency, the assurances of our highest consideration. Prachanda Chairman Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) 24 July 2006 End Text. MORIARTY