Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06MUMBAI1286
2006-07-10 12:14:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Consulate Mumbai
Cable title:  

CONDITIONS INSIDE CHHATTISGARH'S IDP CAMPS AS MONSOON SEASON

Tags:  PTER PREL PGOV KWMN KCRM PHUM IN 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO3968
PP RUEHBI RUEHCI RUEHLH
DE RUEHBI #1286/01 1911214
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 101214Z JUL 06
FM AMCONSUL MUMBAI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4012
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 5304
RUEHBI/AMCONSUL MUMBAI 8775
RUEHCG/AMCONSUL CHENNAI 1127
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA 1035
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 0591
RUEHKP/AMCONSUL KARACHI 0198
RUEHLH/AMCONSUL LAHORE 0083
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU 0487
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 0602
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 0583
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDHP/DIA DHP-1 WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MUMBAI 001286 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV KWMN KCRM PHUM IN
SUBJECT: CONDITIONS INSIDE CHHATTISGARH'S IDP CAMPS AS MONSOON SEASON
BEGINS ARE WORRYING

REF: A) MUMBAI 1253 B) MUMBAI 358

Summary
-------

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MUMBAI 001286

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PTER PREL PGOV KWMN KCRM PHUM IN
SUBJECT: CONDITIONS INSIDE CHHATTISGARH'S IDP CAMPS AS MONSOON SEASON
BEGINS ARE WORRYING

REF: A) MUMBAI 1253 B) MUMBAI 358

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


1. (SBU) Due to escalating combat between government,
Naxalite-insurgent, and tribal counter-insurgent forces,
southern Chhattisgarh had a growing internally displaced persons
(IDP) problem in its Dantewara district before monsoon season
arrived in late June. Dantewara's 27 IDP camps have apparently
quadrupled in size since the beginning of the year and now
contain in excess of 60,000 persons. By most accounts the camps
lack adequate shelter, food, and security. There are
trafficking and other human rights abuses associated with the
camps as well. The unspoken hope among Government of
Chhattisgarh (GOC) officials seems to be that people will return
to their burned villages and scattered livestock next year, but
there appears to be little thinking underway about assistance
packages, land restitution, or de-mining, all of which should
figure prominently in any durable solution to the large scale
internal displacement occurring in southern Chhattisgarh. In a
separate discussion, a top Maharashtra police official told us
how his state, which neighbors southern Chhattisgarh to the
west, more effectively came to grips with Naxalism after viewing
the insurgency primarily as a development issue rather than as a
security challenge. End summary.

IDP Camps Grow
--------------


2. (SBU) The Dantewara district in southern Chhattisgarh has
become India's hub for Naxalite violence in 2006 (ref A).
Escalating combat between government, insurgent, and tribal
counter-insurgent forces is swelling the district's twenty-seven
IDP camp locations, as tribal people flee or are forcibly
removed from their forest villages by both Naxalite and
counter-insurgent forces. Based upon our interviews of GOC
officials, Post reported in ref B that there were approximately
15,000 IDPs in Dantewara district as of February. That number
swelled to 45,958 by early March, according to the Asian Center
for Human Rights (ACHR). Much of that seems to reflect real
growth, as opposed to amended counting. For example, the

neighboring Konta, Arrabore and Dornapal camps opened only in
mid-February, yet still accounted for 15,482 IDPs by March 4.
During a conversation with EconOff in late May, Mahendra Karma,
Dantewara district's Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and
alleged leader of the "Salwa Judum" counter-insurgency,
estimated IDP numbers to be in excess of 60,000. Post has been
unable to identify any newer survey numbers.

Camp Conditions
--------------


3. (SBU) Southern Chhattisgarh clearly had a growing IDP
problem in its Dantewara district before monsoon season arrived
in late June. The region should experience heavy rains and
periodic flooding through late September. There are potentially
conflicting reports as to the standard of shelter in the camps.
Many displaced villagers live in makeshift camps, some of which
are only open-sided, thatched roof constructions, built without
tarpaulin and exposed to the slanting downpours of windy monsoon
storms, according to B.G. Verghese of ACHR, who visited several
camps in early March. S.C. Sahai, Secretary of the Red Cross in
Chhattisgarh, told us on July 6, however, that the GOC has
completed shed-like constructions for IDPs in all camps. Sahai
is relying in part on GOC representations to reach this
conclusion, however, as he has not been to every camp. He also
reports that despite heavy rains to date, and the Indravati
River recently flowing 2.5 meters above its danger mark in
nearby Bastar district, there have been no reported incidents so
far of flooding or marooning in the camps.


4. (SBU) Dantewara's IDP camps are inadequately provisioned as
well, we heard. The Red Cross only provided utensils, clothes
and bed linen for approximately 15,000 IDPs. The ACHR
inspection team reported that daily camp rations were one meal
of beans and rice. IDPs lack money to buy food and the GOC's
planned work-for-food program has been delayed by the monsoons,
according to ACHR. Naxalites and Naxalite landmines have been

MUMBAI 00001286 002 OF 003


killing hungry IDPs who venture back to abandoned villages for
food, but they continue to go anyway, local papers report.


5. (SBU) Other NGOs fear to assist Dantewara's IDP camps
because they believe Naxalites will attack and close other
projects they are implementing in rural Chhattisgarh, we heard
from Catholic Relief Services (CRS). The provision of supplies
from Red Cross noted above may be the only non-governmental
assistance to have reached these IDPs to date.

Trafficking, HIV/AIDS on the Rise in Camps
--------------


6. (SBU) CRS personnel also told us that lack of food and jobs
among displaced people leads to higher rates of prostitution and
sexual exploitation among displaced women and girls, and that
this was occurring with greater frequency in southern
Chhattisgarh. There is also a corresponding concern that
HIV/AIDS infection rates may climb. Trafficking in child
soldiers by Naxalites and Salwa Judum is widely alleged by civil
society and the media.


7. (U) Security inside the camps is also an issue. Not only do
Naxalites attack camps themselves, but on June 20, papers
reported that insurgents killed seven persons and injured two
others at Chikuarguda village in the Konta region in retaliation
for the village's refusal to accompany them on a camp attack.

Locations and Sizes of Camps
--------------


8. (U) According to the Asian Centre of Human Rights (ACHR),
which led a fact-finding mission to Dantewara district in April,
camp locations and populations as of March 4 were as follows:
Bhairamgarh (6806),Bangapal (1319),Nelsonar (525),Mirtur
(1685),Matwada (3167),Kutru (1519),Farseghar (463),Pinkondha
(165),Khodholi (71),Korkheli (100),Bhodli (210),Bhedore
(350),Jhangla (2710),Etamkhudum (140),Cherpal (2556),
Gangalur (3159),Bijapur (905),Murdhanda (551),Awapalli (662),
Bhangsa Gudha (505),Usur (1230),Geedam (1584),Dantewada (36),
Fharaspal (58),Konta (5015),Arrabore (4068),and Dornapal
(6399).

How Maharashtra Dealt With the Naxalite Insurgency
-------------- --------------


9. (SBU) In a separate discussion, J.J. Singh, Additional Chief
of Police in the Maharashtra Police Anti-Terrorist Squad,
explained to ConGenOffs Maharashtra's recipe for containing the
Naxalite insurgency. Naxalism is more of a development issue
than a law enforcement or security challenge, Singh said. Until
the mid-1990s, Naxalite groups held sway over extended areas of
eastern Maharashtra, much like the Naxalites effectively control
southern Chhattisgarh today, he told us. Police were
ineffective in fighting the insurgents simply because they had
such difficulty reaching the areas under Naxalite control due to
inadequate roads. In addition, the rebels won over the hearts
and minds of local tribes because they provided rudimentary
social services that the state had failed to deliver. The
security situation changed, according to Singh, once the state
began building more roads and hospitals and other facilities of
the modern state in the previously isolated areas. The
Naxalites understood the threat to their authority and
vigorously tried to stop the development projects. They were
ultimately unsuccessful, Singh claimed. He alleged that the
state now controls much of the security situation in the eastern
Maharashtra. Naxalites continue to attack the police presence
there because the police are the most exposed and visible
symbols of authority in the area, but the attacks are
hit-and-run affairs that have failed to roll back state
authority. Naxalites continue to extort companies in the area,
but they are no longer able to establish and run the large scale
protection rackets they launched against big companies in the
1990s, Singh said.

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


MUMBAI 00001286 003 OF 003



10. (SBU) The situation in Dantewara's IDP camps as the
monsoons begin is extremely worrying. Breakdown of social
relationships and support structures, loss of jobs, hunger and
inadequate shelter have made these IDPs especially vulnerable to
violence and human rights violations. Moreover, the
government's long term plans for these displaced persons are
unclear. The unspoken hope among GOC officials seems to be that
people will return to their burned villages and scattered
livestock next year, but there appears to be little thinking
underway about assistance packages, land restitution, or
de-mining, all of which should figure prominently in any durable
solution to the large scale internal displacement occurring in
southern Chhattisgarh. End comment.
OWEN