BUCKING UP THE PARTIES ON MAOIST ARMS MANAGEMENT

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 002625 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/27/2016 TAGS: PGOV PTER PREL NP SUBJECT: BUCKING UP THE PARTIES ON MAOIST ARMS MANAGEMENT Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) According to various sources, Home Minister and chief Government of Nepal (GON) negotiator Krishna Sitaula is pushing his Seven Party Alliance (SPA) colleagues, including Prime Minister Koirala, to accept a deal that brings the Maoists into an interim government quickly without dealing with the question of Maoist weapons. The Ambassador spoke on September 27 to Madhav Kumar Nepal, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML), and Sher Bahadur Deuba, President of the Nepali Congress-Democratic (NC-D) to buck them up on separating the Maoists from their arms. Suresh Chalise, the Prime Minister's foreign policy advisor, assured the DCM on September 27 that the PM would not back down on the arms management issue during negotiations. It appears that the summit talks that were tentatively scheduled for September 28 might be postponed due to a lack of agreement between the GON and the Maoists on the arms management and other issues. Sitaula Pushing a Bad Deal -------------- ¶2. (C) Numerous sources told Emboffs on September 27 that Home Minister and chief GON negotiator Krishna Sitaula was pushing an agreement that would bring the Maoists into an interim government quickly while staying soft on or ignoring Maoist arms management. Narayan Man Bijukchhe, Chairman of the small, leftist Nepal Workers and Peasants Party, told the DCM that Sitaula was pretending there was an agreement among the parties to move toward an interim government with the Maoists but that, in reality, the SPA was nowhere near an agreement on most points. Minendra Rijal, former spokesperson for the NC-D, told Emboff that Sitaula was insisting an agreement come quickly. Sitaula had further claimed to be able to "take care of (PM) Koirala on arms management." Anil Jha, spokesperson for the Nepal Sadbhavana Party, told Emboff that Sitaula was meeting today with the Maoist second-in-command Dr. Baburam Bhattarai in hopes of reaching an agreement. Party Leaders are Concerned -------------- ¶3. (C) On September 27, the Ambassador spoke separately to Madhav Kumar Nepal, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Nepal-United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML),and Sher Bahadur Deuba, President of the Nepali Congress-Democratic (NC-D),to push them to stand strong on the arms management issue during negotiations. Each of them promised they would insist on arms management before the Maoists entered into the government. "Trust but verify" was the mantra the Ambassador impressed upon them. They were, however, nervous about the strength of the PM's will to hold the line on arms management. Suresh Chalise, the Prime Minister's foreign policy advisor, assured the DCM, however, that there was no way the GON would surrender to the Maoists on the arms management issue. The DCM made it clear to Chalise that we had been in touch with the other major parties and that they had no desire for an agreement with the Maoists that glossed over the arms management issue. Summit Talks May Be Postponed -------------- ¶4. (C) Summit talks between the GON and the Maoists were reportedly scheduled to be held on September 28. Numerous sources have told Post that these talks will likely be postponed a few days or even a few weeks. Rijal said that the parties and the Maoists still had a lot of "homework to do" before they could sit down in summit talks and make decisions. His party colleague Prakash Mahat told Emboff September 26 that he did not expect a GON-Maoist agreement until mid-October. Even that, he said, would depend on a firm Maoist commitment on arms as well as a meeting of the minds on other open issues such as the composition of the Interim Parliament. Comment -------------- ¶5. (C) Sitaula and company (including the PM's nephew Shekhar Koirala) appear to be pushing a bad deal to the parties to get the Maoists into the government quickly without managing their weapons; that has been Sitaula's approach all along. We will continue to buck up key SPA leaders, including the PM himself, and encourage them not to accept a deal that would give the Maoists a clear path to power. The rumors floating around are concerning, but we hope that the GON will not cave on the issue of arms management. MORIARTY