AMBASSADOR'S MARCH 23 MEETING WITH PRIME MINISTER

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 000239


DEPT FOR SCA/FO, SCA/INS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/23/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL MARR PTER NP
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR'S MARCH 23 MEETING WITH PRIME MINISTER
DAHAL

REF: KATHMANDU 325

Classified By: AMBASSADOR NANCY J. POWELL FOR REASONS 1.4 (B/D)


1. (C) Summary: Recent conflicts over military
recruitment and the refusal to extend the careers of eight
Nepal Army Brigadier Generals will not have any negative
impact on the fragile peace process, Prime Minister Dahal
told Ambassador on March 23. Refuting Ambassador,s concern
over lack of progress on key issues, the Prime Minister
announced that a "new momentum" would soon energize the peace
process, noted that the Army Integration Special Committee
was functioning in full mode, but noted that "an additional
two or three months" of mandate for UNMIN might be needed due
to "unseen causes". Ambassador noted the general lack of
progress for the two months since UNMIN,s current extension,
and warned that an extended mandate may not be a welcome
request to some P-5 members. She additionally warned that
the dismissals of senior military personnel, some of whom had
received U.S.-supported training in the expectation that they
would serve full careers, could have possible negative
consequences for continued U.S. military assistance and
called into question the Nepal Army,s leadership of UN
peacekeeping contingents. End Summary.

Meeting at Singha Durbar
--------------


2. (U) Ambassador met with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal
Dahal on March 23 at his Singha Durbar office in Kathmandu.
The Prime Minister,s Foreign Affairs Advisor Hira Bahadur
Thapa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Joint Secretary Padhumna
Shah, and DCM were also in attendance.

USG Concern Over Peace Process Issues
--------------


3. (C) Ambassador requested today,s meeting to relay a
message of concern on several recent issues, including the
lack of progress on the peace process, with nearly one-third
of UNMIN,s extended mandate now elapsed. Recent, unhelpful
moves also undermined past agreements and unnecessarily
strained relations between the parties, including the
handling of the People,s Liberation Army recruitment
declarations and the retirement of eight senior Nepal Army
generals inconsistent with standard practice. Ambassador
requested clarification from the PM on the decision-making
process, particularly on the dismissal of the generals. The
USG had invested in senior officers, including the current
Director of Military Intelligence, by supporting attendance
at professional staff colleges. (The current DMI is a 2008
graduate of the National War College.) This sort of
professional development was done in response to requests for
support from the Ministry of Defense. If officers were
summarily dismissed with no apparent policy or standard in
place, it raised several questions, including appropriateness
of continued USG funding for such officer development and
Nepal Army leadership of UN peacekeeping contingents. It
also made observers wonder, Ambassador noted, whether the PLA
commanders or the GON were calling the shots on defense
policy.

PM Dahal: No Serious Impact on Peace Process; Decisions to
Stand
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Dahal indicated that USG concerns were misplaced,
and that he saw no serious negative impact from either the
recruitment saga or the refusal to extend the careers of the
generals. He also challenged the assertion that little had
been done on the peace process front in the previous two
months, noting that the AISC had met four times, and was
about to establish its Technical Committee in a meeting later
today to establish procedures for the demobilization of those
found "disqualified" as PLA combatants. He categorically
stated that recruitment efforts in the cantonments had
completely stopped -- contrary to some reports, and suggested
that the PLA recruitment issue had been a mechanism by the
commanders to make a case for additional "resources" for
"development activity".


5. (C) On the issue of the generals, Dahal said, the
decision not to extend their careers, as has been standard
practice in the Nepal Army for decades, was consistent with
his "message of change" that he had brought to all senior GON
officials, including the Nepal Police and Armed Police Forces
as well. He dismissed the previous grant of an extension to
a minority brigadier as "exceptional". The dismissal of the
generals was "not a serious issue" and had been effectively
resolved. (Note: A court case has now been brought by the
dismissed generals against the Nepal Army for wrongful
dismissal. End note.) The PM was clear that despite
discussions with other parties ex post facto, the decision
would stand. He averred that he had learned from the lack of
more complete consultations.

Some Ways Forward
--------------


6. (C) Ambassador noted several key issues on which
advancement and improvement should be achieved for the good
of the peace process. Welcoming the PM,s news of the
formation of the Technical Committee, she urged additional
work toward the following ends, particularly since the UN,s
mid-term report, now due in less than three weeks, would
likely be very critical of Nepal,s failure to make progress
and make mandate extension increasingly problematic:

--Forward movement on the discharge of the disqualified from
the cantonments;
--Cultivating a functioning relationship between the Minister
of Defense and Chief of Army Staff;
--Accepting the results and controlling student cadres in the
aftermath of Student Union elections;
--Establishing a permissive environment to allow campaigning
and the execution of free and fair by-elections, now schedule
for April 10;
--Extension of OHCHR mandate.


7. (C) Dahal responded by saying that the GON must finish
arrangements for integration procedures within the four-month
period remaining in UNMIN,s mandate. However, he
immediately suggested that Nepal might need an extended
mandate for another 2-3 months due to "unseen causes."
Ambassador suggested that the USG,s position on an extension
would hinge on progress in the peace process, and a close
look on whether or not the "unseen causes" were
self-inflicted. Dahal also vowed to ensure a positive
environment for the April 10 elections, and said he believed
the ongoing student elections had generally been "peacefully
concluded," before enumerating several campuses where
conflict and strikes were occurring over results.

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


8. (C) The PM,s assurance that recruitment and the
dismissals have had no negative impact on the peace process
and the relationship between parties is disappointing,
particularly if he actually believes it to be true. Dahal
did take responsibility for the decisions and did not cite
pressure from hardliners, as is sometimes his wont. The
message on ramifications for the current mix of USG military
assistance and our concerns about the impact of the
retirement decision on the Nepal Army,s leadership of UN
peacekeeping contingents was clear. Whether or not it is
heeded remains in question.


POWELL