AMBASSADOR'S DECEMBER 4 MEETING WITH PRIME

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 001264 DEPT FOR SCA/FO, SCA/INS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2018 TAGS: PGOV UN NP SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S DECEMBER 4 MEETING WITH PRIME MINISTER DAHAL Classified By: DCM RANDY W. BERRY FOR REASONS 1.4 (B/D) ¶1. (C) Summary: In a brief meeting with Ambassador on December 4, Prime Minister Dahal confirmed that a request for a six-month UNMIN mandate extension would be lodged "tomorrow or the next day," despite the lack of consultation with opposition Nepali Congress leaders. Dahal also promised to look into and "take care of" labor problems which have beset leading American investors Coca-Cola and Colgate-Palmolive over the past few weeks. The PM also identified Barsaman Pun (aka Ananta) as the Maoist point-of-contact to work with DCM in providing fuller accounts of the killings of two American Embassy security employees in 2002. End Summary. Taken Aback by NC Losses -------------- ¶2. (U) Ambassador and DCM met with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal on December 4 at his Singha Durbar office in Kathmandu. The Prime Minister's Foreign Affairs Advisor Hira Bahadur Thapa and Pradhumna Shah, Joint Secretary for Europe and the Americas at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, were also in attendance. GON Will Seek UNMIN Extension to July 2009 -------------- ¶3. (C) Prime Minister Dahal said that an official letter requesting a six-month extension of mandate for the United Nations Mission in NEPAL (UNMIN) would be sent to the United Nations "tomorrow or the following day." Pressed on whether or not the opposition Nepali Congress party had concurred in approving the request, Dahal demurred, and indicated that he believed they would ultimately support the request. An extension would set the expiration of UNMIN,s mandate in July 2009. American Companies & Labor Issues -------------- ¶4. (C) Ambassador raised the recurring issue of illegal labor practices affecting the business sector in Nepal, and specifically recent closures and strikes which had affected Coca-Cola and Colgate-Palmolive, two of the largest U.S. investors in the Nepali economy. The Prime Minister appeared unaware of the most recent strike action against Coca-Cola, which transpired earlier this week, and asked the Ambassador "which union" was responsible for the problems. "Yours" was her reply. If illegal labor practices continued to thwart companies already doing business in Nepal, the Ambassador noted, the GON should realize that stated goals of economic growth and increased foreign investment would be sacrificed, since investors and companies would be looking to the GON,s actions, and not only its words. The PM nodded, and said "Let me handle it." Point-of-Contact Identified to Pursue Murder of Embassy Employees -------------- -------------- ¶5. (C) On several occasions, Ambassador and DCM had pushed the Prime Minister and other senior Maoist leaders for a fuller accounting/disclosure of events surrounding the 2002 murder of two Nepali employees of the American Embassy. After several promises to name a point-of-contact, today the Prime Minister indicated that Barsaman Pun (aka "Ananta,") a Deputy Commander in the People,s Liberation Army, would be in touch with DCM Berry to provide fuller information. The Ambassador told the PM that no decision on the terrorism designations could be made until additional information had been provided. Comment -------------- ¶6. (C) The decision to seek an extension of mandate for UNMIN is generally welcome news, except for the fact that the Maoists appear to be moving forward without the concurrence of the Nepali Congress. As obstructionist and difficult as the NC has become in the past several weeks, the decision to move forward without their agreement potentially spells additional problems. Welcome also was the PM,s quiet acknowledgment on the labor front and the promise to do something about it. And after months of promising information on the guard killings by Maoist and GON officials, the identification of a well-known Maoist insider to deal with the issue is a step forward. Post will track these most recent issues for tangible progress and report separately. POWELL