PRIME MINISTER TO ACT AGAINST MAOISTS IN TWO WEEKS

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 002461 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/10/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL PTER NP SUBJECT: PRIME MINISTER TO ACT AGAINST MAOISTS IN TWO WEEKS Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) In a meeting on September 10, the Ambassador told Prime Minister Koirala that the Government of Nepal (GON) was losing control of the country. The Maoists were acting with impunity and they clearly assumed the GON would do nothing. PM (and Nepali Congress Party chief) Koirala responded that he planned to act within two weeks. He said that he was laying the groundwork with civil society, the public and the parties. In 15 days he would address the nation. Koirala requested U.S. assistance in ensuring that the other two large parties in the Seven-Party Alliance government, the NC(D) and the CPN-UML, supported strong action against the Maoists. He also requested U.S. assistance in garnering international support for this approach. Law and Order Situation Out of Control -------------- ¶2. (C) The Ambassador told Prime Minister GP Koirala and his foreign policy advisor Dr. Suresh Chalise on September 10 that he welcomed Koirala's recent criticism of the Maoists for ignoring their obligations under agreements with the Seven-Party Alliance (SPA) government, but that more had to be done. The Maoists were running wild. The Government of Nepal (GON),the Ambassador said, was losing control of the country. The Maoists were creating an impression that their victory was inevitable. According to the Ambassador, the Maoists seemed to expect the GON to do nothing. Meanwhile, the middle class in Kathmandu was reeling from Maoist extortion across the board. The Nepali public and the international community, the Ambassador declared, wanted the GON to restore law and order. PM Planning Action -------------- ¶3. (C) The Prime Minister responded that he wanted to take firm action against Maoist abuses and planned to do so soon. Within 15 days, the Prime Minister said, he would speak to the nation about the way ahead and call the Maoists to account. He was in the process of laying the groundwork. Koirala noted that he had met in the previous week with representatives of civil society and of the public to explain his position and his goals for the country. The next challenge was to ensure that his coalition partners in the SPA were on board, particularly the other two major parties -- the Communist Party of Nepal -- United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) and the Nepali Congress (Democratic) (NC((D)). He expressed regret that, given the current serious situation in the country, both CPN-UML chief MK Nepal and NC(D) head Sher Bahadur Deuba had chosen to go to South Korea for an Asian political party conference. He agreed that the three parties had to have a common position. The Prime Minister reassured the Ambassador that he had no intention of heeding the Maoist call for an immediate high-level summit with Maoist Supremo Prachanda. Koirala insisted that he would not talk about a political settlement with the Maoists without a settlement of the arms issue. PM Requests U.S. Assistance -------------- ¶4. (C) PM Koirala asked for U.S. assistance in two areas. First, he appealed to the U.S. to do what it could to persuade the other Seven-Party alliance leaders to support the PM's efforts. The Ambassador said he had repeatedly emphasized in his meetings with MK Nepal, Deuba and others that the SPA had to have a unified position. He told the PM that he would be meeting as soon as possible with the CPN-UML and NC(D) heads and would reiterate that message. Koirala also requested that the U.S. help marshal international support for a firm GON line on the Maoists. The Ambassador stressed that the USG wanted to be helpful. Along with other key Embassies and their respective Chambers of Commerce, the U.S. as acting chair of the Industrial Security Group had issued a strong statement only a few days earlier condemning Maoist abuses. The Ambassador maintained that all of the major countries represented in Kathmandu shared the same sense of urgency about addressing Maoist violence and extortion. This included the Indians. Comment -------------- ¶5. (C) Koirala said all the right things on September 10. Our concern, as the Ambassador emphasized to him, is that he is running out of time. If the PM does make a major address to the nation in two weeks, that leaves very little time before the major Nepali holiday season of Dasain and Tihar to begin to implement whatever plan he lays out. Meanwhile, the Maoists are not wasting a moment. MORIARTY