PRACHANDA ORDERS CADRE NOT TO HARM U.S. OFFICIALS

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 000614 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/22/2017 TAGS: PGOV PTER ASEC NP SUBJECT: PRACHANDA ORDERS CADRE NOT TO HARM U.S. OFFICIALS REF: A. KATHMANDU 581 ¶B. KATHMANDU 525 Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty. Reasons 1.4 (b/d) ¶1. (C) Prime Minister Koirala's nephew Dr. Shekhar Koirala told Emboff March 21 that, per the U.S. request, Maoist Supremo Prachanda had verbally conveyed to Maoist cadre that same day that they should not harm U.S. officials. According to Dr. Koirala, Prachanda finally issued the order after the Prime Minister had demanded for the second time that the Maoist chief convey such an instruction. The PM's nephew, who heard about the order directly from Prachanda, stated that he had responded that Prachanda now had to take the next step and issue the instruction in writing. The Maoist chief promised to do so. Comment -------------- ¶2. (C) Post is not holding its breath for a written order, but is encouraged by Prachanda's reported instruction. Our concern was that hotheaded Maoists would misconstrue Prachanda's March 8 claim at a rally in Pokhara that royalists were plotting to kill U.S. officials as a license for them to harm Americans. We were mindful of the claim by the Maoists who bombed the U.S. Information Center in Kathmandu in 2004 that they thought they were acting under orders. With thousands of Maoist small arms not yet secured by UN monitors and large numbers of anti-American Maoists roaming the Kathmandu Valley, post cannot take any chances with the safety of U.S. Mission personnel. MORIARTY