LETTER ON BHUTANESE REFUGEES FROM A/S ROCCA

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 000216 SIPDIS SIPDIS DEPT FOR SA/INS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/20/2016 TAGS: PREF NP SUBJECT: LETTER ON BHUTANESE REFUGEES FROM A/S ROCCA DELIVERED TO FM PANDEY REF: SECSTATE 7770 Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty, Reasons, 1.4 (b/d). ¶1. (C) On January 19, the Ambassador delivered A/S Rocca's letter on Bhutanese refugees to Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey. The Ambassador explained that the USG supported Nepal's efforts to set a firm time table to engage with the RGOB to resolve the issue. The Ambassador also urged the Foreign Minister to immediately issue exit permits to the three vulnerable minor female Bhutanese refugees whom the U.S. had accepted for resettlement. Bhutan Had Committed to Immediately Implement Return -------------- -------------- ¶2. (C) The Foreign Minister expressed appreciation for A/S Rocca's letter. Pandey lamented that the Bhutanese were giving the international community the impression that the ball was in Nepal's court. Asking that he keep it close hold, Pandey showed the Ambassador the Bhutanese Foreign Minister Khadu Wangchuk's September 14 letter, which conveyed "Bhutan's offer to immediately implement the decision reached between the two governments on Category I and Category IV of Khudunabari camp and to deal with category II" at a later date. Pandey explained that he interpreted Wangchuk's letter as committing Bhutan to taking concrete action. FM Undertakes to Write a Letter to Bhutanese FM -------------- -- ¶3. (C) Noting that the Bhutanese had crafted a careful letter, the Ambassador recommended that Pandey write a letter to FM Wangchuk suggesting a date for the beginning of the repatriation of the Category I and IV refugees and inviting the Bhutanese FM to come to Kathmandu in the very near future to resolve the terms and conditions for the returns. Pandey agreed and said he would prepare such a letter. He stressed that his main concern was the remaining ethnic Nepalese in Bhutan. The Ambassador noted that we were discussing with the Government of India the pressing need to resolve the fate of the Bhutanese refugees. Comment -------------- ¶4. (C) Pandey was open to our ideas on how to move the issue forward. He stressed that, unless a durable solution was found quickly, the Bhutanese refugee camps could become a festering sore that might further destabilize the entire region. MORIARTY