Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06KATHMANDU3064
2006-11-20 10:01:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Kathmandu
Cable title:  

NEW OHCHR HEAD NOT OPTIMISTIC ABOUT PEACE

Tags:  PHUM PREL PGOV PTER MARR PINR NP 
pdf how-to read a cable
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 003064 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/20/2016
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV PTER MARR PINR NP
SUBJECT: NEW OHCHR HEAD NOT OPTIMISTIC ABOUT PEACE

REF: A. KATHMANDU 2971


B. KATHMANDU 3022

C. KATHMANDU 3063

Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).

Summary
-------

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 003064

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/20/2016
TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV PTER MARR PINR NP
SUBJECT: NEW OHCHR HEAD NOT OPTIMISTIC ABOUT PEACE

REF: A. KATHMANDU 2971


B. KATHMANDU 3022

C. KATHMANDU 3063

Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons 1.4 (b/d).

Summary
--------------


1. (C) On November 17, Lena Sundh, the new Swedish head of
the Nepal Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
(OHCHR),told the Ambassador that impunity remained a big
problem on both sides of the conflict in Nepal -- for both
the security forces and the Maoists. Sundh stated that she
was not optimistic about the prospects for peace in Nepal,
and compared the situation here with her own experiences in
Angola, where the United Nations, in her opinion, had not
played an effective role. Sundh worried about the increased
Maoist recruitment of child soldiers. She was concerned that
the UN did not have a clear mandate for monitoring Maoist
weapons, and feared that the Maoists were using the peace
process to gain strength. She did however, express some hope
that the UN could have a more active role if they had a clear
mandate.

Army and Maoists Must Own Up To Past Abuses
--------------


2. (C) In a November 17 meeting with the Ambassador, Lena
Sundh, the new Swedish head of OHCHR in Nepal, stated that
the Nepal Army (NA) seemed to be getting better at addressing
current abuses, such as the July attack by Army officers on a
police post (ref A),but it still refused to take
responsibility to punish past abuses. The Ambassador told
Sundh that the Embassy shared these concerns and continued to
raise them at the highest levels of the Government of Nepal
(GON),in the NA, and the Ministry of Defense (ref B). Sundh
hoped that the Maoists would also take responsibility for
their past and present actions, including continuing
extortion across the country.

Comprehensive Peace Agreement: Removing Human Rights Language?
-------------- --------------


3. (C) Sundh said that she had heard that the Maoists wanted

to remove much of the human rights language from the draft of
the comprehensive peace accord before signing it, and that
this was one of the issues that had forced the Government and
the Maoists to put off signing the accord on November 16 (ref
C). Sundh stated that removing the language was not
necessarily bad, as much of what had been written did not
need to be in the accord. Sundh told the Ambassador that the
Maoists had said that the language was "too repetitive" and
needed to be shortened. Sundh's concern was that there be a
statement in the agreement that "respect for human rights is
important during the peace process." Sundh hoped that such a
statement would be included, and the Ambassador agreed.

Children Must Not Be Recruited -- Or Counted
--------------


4. (C) Sundh told the Ambassador that it was important that
it be made clear that recruitment of children by the Maoists
was unacceptable and must be stopped. Sundh stated that Ian
Martin's UN peace team needed to tell the Maoists that they
would not count children put into cantonments; that only
adult combatants would be counted in the final tally. (Note:
According to press reports, Ian Martin passed a message along
these lines to Maoist Supremo Prachanda. End Note.) Sundh
also mentioned that UNICEF would not provide assistance or
food to child soldiers in cantonments. Sundh feared the
Maoists were not thinking about this. She compared the
increased recruiting to the situation she had seen in Angola,
where only four percent of the people put into cantonments
under UN supervision had actually been soldiers; the others
were new recruits added to bulk up the numbers.

Need Robust Monitoring Of Weapons

KATHMANDU 00003064 002 OF 002


--------------


5. (C) Sundh said that the UN Mission in Nepal could do
better than it is doing if it had a stronger mandate. She
said that the UN Secretary General had already promised 100
monitors to Nepal. The Ambassador asked Sundh how, without a
Security Council Resolution, these monitors would be funded
and under what authority they would work. Sundh did not
respond. The Ambassador worried that with 28 total camps,
100 monitors would not even begin to be able to enforce the
agreements between the Government and the Maoists. Sundh
agreed, but was hopeful that more monitors would come.

Bio Note on Lena Sundh
--------------


6. (C) Lena Sundh took over as head of the OHCHR office in
Kathmandu on October 18, 2006, and arrived in Kathmandu on
November 13, 2006. Sundh joined the Swedish Ministry of
Foreign Affairs in 1976 and served in Thailand, Namibia,
Morocco, and at the UN in Geneva and New York. She was
Ambassador of Sweden to Angola from 1995-2000. She also
served as the Director at the Departments of African Affairs
and of Global Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
in Sweden. Within the UN, Sundh served with UNHCR in
Cambodia and was a member of the UN Monitoring Mechanism on
Angola Sanctions. Sundh served as the Deputy Special
Representative of the Secretary-General for the Democratic
Republic of Congo, and was the Deputy Head of the UN
Peacekeeping Mission in Congo. Her English is excellent.

Comment
--------------


7. (C) The new director of OHCHR seems realistic in her view
of the pitfalls inherent in the current peace process and on
the need for separation of the Maoists from their weapons.
Her past experience in conflict zones will serve her well in
her role of monitoring and bringing to light serious human
rights abuses in Nepal. The sooner UN monitors are on the
ground to oversee the containment of bona fide People's
Liberation Army fighters in camps and their separation from
their weapons, the better prospect for Nepal's peace process.
MORIARTY