This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000804 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/OP/NEA 
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER ASEC PGOV CASC NP
SUBJECT: MORE TRAFFIC MOVING, BUSINESSES OPEN IN STRIKE'S 
SECOND DAY 
 
REF: A. (A) KATHMANDU 795 
     ¶B. (B) KATHMANDU 753 
 
--------- 
SUMMARY 
--------- 
 
¶1.  (SBU) Summary:  More traffic was moving and shops open on 
the second day of the general strike called by Maoist 
insurgents April 23-27.  One mini-bus was torched inside 
Kathmandu after a crowd attacked it; no injuries were 
reported.  In districts outside Kathmandu Maoists hijacked 
four ambulances; set fire to the country home of the Prime 
Minister, and killed two Armed Police Force policemen in an 
ambush April 23.  The Government of Nepal announced rewards 
for information leading to the capture of the top Maoist 
leadership.  A core EAC met at COB April 24 to assess the 
situation and determine  actions for the following day.  The 
international school, which most Mission dependent children 
attend, as well as the French and British schools, will 
remain closed April 25.  Absent any violent incidents in the 
intervening hours, we expect observation of the strike to 
fall even more steeply on the third day, as 
people--especially at the lower end of the economic 
scale--begin to feel the pinch. End summary. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
VOLUME OF TRAFFIC, BUSINESS SOMEWHAT HIGHER 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (U)  Considerably more shops--an estimated 35 percent of 
the total--were open and vehicles moving in Kathmandu on the 
second day of the Maoists' strike, or "bandh," called for 
April 23-27.  Most drivers of non-official vehicles, 
including public transportation such as buses and taxis, 
followed Government of Nepal (GON) advice and taped over or 
otherwise obscured their license plates to avoid retribution. 
 At COB April 24 the RSO had received reports of only two 
violent incidents within the city limits:  the bombing of a 
small shop  and the torching (after the passengers alighted) 
of a mini-bus by an angry crowd.  No injuries were reported 
in either incident. 
 
------------------ 
FURTHER INCIDENTS: 
DAY ONE 
------------------ 
 
¶3.  (U) In addition to the incidents reported Ref A, on the 
first day of the strike Maoists set fire to the country home 
of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in Dadeldhura District 
in the far-western region of the country.  Deuba and his 
family were in Kathmandu at the time of the incident, and no 
injuries were reported.  (Note:  The incident follows the 
April 20 bombing of the country home of Finance Minister Ram 
Sharan Mahat in Nuwakot District.  Mahat and his family were 
in Kathmandu at the time.  End note.)  Maoists also 
reportedly hijacked four ambulances that had been returning 
from Kathmandu via a major highway near the Chitwan-Dhading 
border April 23.  Press reports said the police had 
successfully reclaimed the ambulances, but the local director 
of the Nepal Red Cross Society, which owned three of the four 
vehicles, said his organization had not yet recovered them. 
In a separate incident about noon the same day, an Armed 
Police Force (APF) contingent providing a security escort for 
a passenger bus came under attack in Majhintar, Dhading 
District.  Two APF policemen were killed. 
 
------------------------- 
WANTED:  DEAD OR ALIVE 
------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (U) In an unprecedented move, on April 23 the GON 
announced cash rewards equivalent to about USD 65,000 for 
individuals that hand over to the security forces either of 
the Maoists' top three leaders:  Prachanda, Baburam 
Bhattarai, and Mohan Vaidya. Those providing information 
leading to the arrest of those leaders will receive half of 
the reward.  Individuals handing over certain members of the 
second-tier leadership, including former negotiator Krishna 
Bahadur Mahara, will net a reward equivalent to USD 45,000. 
Those turning in Central Committee members earn a reward 
equivalent to USD 32,000.  Lesser amounts will be given to 
individuals who turn over certain weapons believed to have 
been stolen from the security forces by the Maoists.  The 
announcement, issued by Police Headquarters and featured 
widely in the local press, noted that the wanted individuals 
may 
be turned over "dead or alive." 
 
----------------- 
EMBASSY ACTIONS 
----------------- 
 
¶5.  (SBU) A core EAC met at COB April 24 to assess the 
situation and determine actions for day three of the strike. 
It was decided, as in the previous two days, that the Embassy 
will operate under normal working hours, although FSN 
shuttles will depart one hour earlier in the late afternoon. 
The management of the international school, which most 
Mission dependent children attend, as well as that of the 
French and British schools, have decided their institutions 
will remain closed on April 25. 
 
--------- 
COMMENT 
--------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Adherence to the bandh, at least in the city, 
appears to be gradually eroding.  Absent any violent 
incidents in the intervening hours, we expect observation of 
the strike to fall even more steeply on the third day, as 
people--especially at the lower end of the economic 
scale--begin to feel the pinch.  The rewards announced 
represent a substantial sum of money by virtually any 
Nepali's standard, and are sure to catch the attention of the 
general public.  The GON has only recently begun to publish 
the names and photographs of its "most wanted"--the top 
Maoist leadership--in the local press.  Dissemination of the 
photographs have reportedly led to at least two arrests (Ref 
B) already; whether the stepped-up publicity and the rewards 
announcement result in further arrests remains to be seen. 
MALINOWSKI