NEPAL: PRACHANDA MEETS KOIRALA, INDIANS, CHINESE

S E C R E T KATHMANDU 001094 SIPDIS NOFORN E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2019 TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR IN NP SN CH SUBJECT: NEPAL: PRACHANDA MEETS KOIRALA, INDIANS, CHINESE IN SINGAPORE REF: KATHMANDU 1090 Classified By: Charge d'Affaires, a.i., Randy W. Berry. Reasons 1.4 (b/ d). ¶1. (S/NF) During his November 16-18 trip to Singapore, Maoist Chairman Pusha Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" met Nepali Congress leader G.P. Koirala, Indian diplomats, and Chinese officials. Maoist head of international affairs Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Nepali businessman Dinesh Manandhar accompanied Prachanda. Manandhar (strictly protect) told Emboff November 30 that the Singapore-based telecommunications company Smart Telecom paid for airfare (business class),vehicle rental (BMW),and hotels (Four Seasons) for the Maoist delegation. Manandhar -- who is personally close to Mahara but says he is not a member of the Maoist party -- is the local Nepali partner of Smart Telecom, and handled logistics for the delegation. He did not participate in the meetings. ¶2. (S/NF) According Manandhar, Prachanda met first with S.D. Muni, an Indian academic with long-standing ties to the Nepal's Maoists and the Government of India (GOI). He then met retired Indian diplomat and former GOI Ambassador to Nepal K.V. Rajan, who was joined by a current "senior" GOI Foreign Ministry official, whom Manandhar did not know. Manandhar said that Muni organized the trip and facilitated the meetings with the GOI. Prachanda also met twice with "Chinese officials" (NFI). ¶3. (S/NF) Following the initial round of discussions with the Chinese and Indians, Prachanda met privately for thirty minutes with Nepali Congress head G.P. Koirala, who was in Singapore for medical treatment, at Koirala's hospital. Following the one-on-one meeting, Koirala's daughter and Maoist Mahara joined the two for another twenty minutes. (Note: Koirala told Charge November 25 that the two agreed to create a "high-level political mechanism" to promote the the peace process (reftel). Kathmandu papers are rife with rumors that Koirala and Prachanda also agreed to replace the current government with a Maoist-Nepali Congress coalition government, although the ailing Koirala would face serious opposition to such a move from inside his party. End Note.) ¶4. (S/NF) Manandhar said that Prachanda was in a "very good mood" following the meetings and "celebrated" late into the night. He was particularly pleased by the discussions with the Indian officials, who hosted a dinner for Prachanda on November 17. ¶5. (S/NF) Asked about whether Prachanda's son Prakash accompanied the delegation (as he often does),Manandhar said he did not because Prachanda did not trust him. According to Manandhar, Prakash drinks heavily and is not reliable. BERRY