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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 KATHMANDU 002326 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS AND DS/IP/NEA 
STATE ALSO PLEASE PASS USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
USAID FOR ANE/AA GORDON WEST AND JIM BEVER 
MANILA FOR USAID/DCHA/OFDA 
LONDON FOR POL/REIDEL 
TREASURY FOR GENERAL COUNSEL/DAUFHAUSER AND DAS JZARATE 
TREASURY ALSO FOR OFAC/RNEWCOMB AND TASK FORCE ON TERRORIST 
FINANCING 
JUSTICE FOR OFFICE OF THE DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL/DLAUFMAN 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PTER PHUM CASC PGOV IN NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL: UPDATE ON MAOIST ACTIVITIES, NOV 30-DEC 06 
 
REF: (A) KATHMANDU 2301 
     (B) KATHMANDU 2316 
     (C) KATHMANDU 2169 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  This week in Nepal, armed assailants 
attacked a Joint Secretary at a public event in Kathmandu; 
the army blamed political appointees for poor intelligence 
capabilities; Maoists destroyed three Village Development 
Committee buildings in Gulmi district, leaving only seven 
intact; and a development arm of the government announced 
that it would not fund projects in a Maoist-affected area 
due to security concerns.  India stepped up the pressure on 
Maoists, and pledged to cooperate with Nepali border guards 
against terrorism and transnational crime.  NGO workers 
escaped injury in a Maoist attack in southern Siraha 
district.  Villagers who have abandoned their homes are 
ignoring Maoist appeals to return.  The GON released 
information about recovery efforts in Jumla, estimates of 
airport damage and Maoist casualty figures. End summary. 
 
ARMED ASSAILANTS ATTACK JOINT SECRETARY 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (U) Two assailants threatened Joint Secretary for 
Education Yuba Raj Pandey in broad daylight after storming 
an afternoon discussion of the Maoist-organized educational 
strike (ref A).  The assailants pointed a pistol at the 
Joint Secretary and smeared his face with black paint, then 
waved the gun at other participants, including teachers' 
organizations, student organizations and journalists, before 
fleeing the scene, chanting Maoist slogans. 
 
STRONGER RNA TURNS ATTENTION TO INTELLIGENCE 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (SBU) Royal Nepal Army (RNA) officials claim, with some 
exaggeration, that more competent technicians and better- 
trained flight crews together with recently acquired 
helicopters, arms and communication equipment are making 
their forces "stronger by the day."  However, in addition to 
"excellent" local-level intelligence networks, the army says 
it must develop an active central intelligence agency in 
order to operate efficiently against the Maoists.  The RNA 
put the blame for current poor intelligence on an excessive 
number of political appointees in the ranks of the National 
Investigation Department, Nepal's national intelligence 
service, under the Home Ministry. 
 
ONLY SEVEN VDCs REMAIN IN DEVASTATED GULMI DISTRICT 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶4. (U) With the recent destruction of three more Village 
Development Committee (VDC) buildings in Gulmi, only seven 
of the central district's 79 VDCs remain intact.  Maoist 
destruction of the other 72 VDCs has prompted government 
employees, including health workers, to move to the district 
headquarters, and reportedly has driven an increasing number 
of boys and girls from their village homes to avoid being 
used as human shields by the insurgents.  Although some 
health workers have been providing services in the field, 
transportation of medicine and equipment is difficult, and 
most villagers have no access to health care of any kind. 
 
NO DEVELOPMENT IN RUKUM 
----------------------- 
 
¶5. (U) The government's Remote Area Development Committee 
(RADC) has halted all development projects in Rukum (in west 
central Nepal) due to security concerns. Even those that are 
nearing completion after four years of work and millions of 
rupees of investment are being abandoned.  According to the 
RADC, since 2.8 million rupees allocated for Rukum last year 
could not be spent due to adverse security conditions, the 
committee has elected not to allocate more funding for the 
district.  The RADC is also discouraging foreign investors 
from funding development projects there. 
 
INDIA TURNS UP THE HEAT 
----------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Nepalese and Indian border officials meeting in 
Baharaich, India this week reportedly agreed to cooperate in 
controlling terrorism and other transnational crimes such as 
trafficking in persons and smuggling.  Officials also 
pledged to cooperate in cross-border exchange of prisoners. 
 
¶7. (U) Pressure by the GOI reportedly has forced an 
estimated 200 members of the All India Nepal Unity Society 
(AINUS) to leave Indian and move to Nepal's central Rolpa 
district.  After the GOI banned AINUS for supporting the 
Maoists and handed over to the GON three of the 
organization's leaders, members of the group fled to Nepal 
to avoid arrest.  According to press reports, the AINUS 
members are being trained by the Maoists in military skills. 
 
NGO WORKERS UNINJURED IN SIRAHA ATTACK 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶8. (U) Approximately 10-15 Nepali workers from Save the 
Children/US, CARE and Nepal Family Health Program (NFHP) 
were in Lahan, southern Siraha district for a conference 
during Wednesday night's attack by Maoist insurgents (ref 
B).  The NGO workers remained inside their hotel when they 
heard gunfire outside.  NFHP reported to USAID that security 
forces entered the hotel at about midnight, rounded up all 
the guests and took them to another location "for their own 
protection."  None of the workers was harmed in the 
incident, and all were later released. 
 
¶9. (U) Maoists destroyed police offices, forestry offices, 
three banks and the offices of the Regional Road Department 
in the attack, which came just two days after the insurgents 
announced plans to stop attacks on infrastructure. 
 
VILLAGERS LEAVING SALYAN DISTRICT 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶10. (U) Increasing numbers of villagers are leaving Salyan 
District, declared by the Home Ministry to be "the third 
most fragile" after Rolpa and Rukum, according to press 
reports from the district.  Hundreds of local residents 
reportedly visit the district headquarters every day, to 
obtain an official letter allowing them to travel out of the 
midwestern district. 
 
¶11. (U) Fleeing villagers have stated that they are living 
in constant fear of the insurgents, and that tight 
restrictions by government forces on food have made the 
situation in the district worse.  Maoists reportedly 
purchased all the dry food in the district's four major 
markets on one day three months ago, sparking controls by 
security personnel on the importation of food into the 
district. 
 
¶12. (U) Meanwhile, villagers taking shelter in Musikot, 
headquarters of midwestern Rukum district, report that 
Maoists have urged them publicly to return to their homes in 
the countryside.  None of the displaced villagers has 
returned, despite the insurgents' appeal--and despite a 
reported warning to one of the villagers that he would be 
killed in the crossfire when the Maoists attack the district 
capital--due to belief that the call to return is a ploy to 
"trap" the local residents back into Maoist control. 
 
GON ESTIMATES AIRPORT DAMAGE AT 270 MILLION NRS 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
¶13. (U) According to a December 4 press release by the 
Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation, the 
reconstruction of 14 airports damaged by Maoist attacks will 
cost the GON 270 million Nrs (3.5 million USD).  Nine of the 
fourteen airports are functioning at a reduced capacity 
following preliminary repairs.  All fourteen airports were 
damaged in the last year. 
 
RECOVERY SLOW AFTER MAOIST ATTACKS 
----------------------------------- 
 
¶14. (U) The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) reported 
on November 30 that the local school, hospital and 
government offices in Khalanga, the capital of western Jumla 
district, are still closed two weeks after a major Maoist 
attack (ref C).  According to the NHRC, Maoists looted 
approximately 1.5 million Nrs (190,000 USD) worth of 
medicine from the hospital, which is now is running out of 
supplies.  The NHRC also reported that local residents 
cannot afford to buy food, since the banks have been shut 
down.  Government workers have been unable to acquire their 
allotted ration of rice, since no Chief District Officer or 
Local Development Officer is present to write the ration 
slips.  Forty government officers were killed in the 
November 14 attack. 
 
MOD RELEASES CASUALTY FIGURES 
------------------------------ 
 
¶15. (U) The Ministry of Defence reported that fourteen 
Maoists were killed in retaliatory attacks by security 
forces on December 1, 2 and 3.  According to the Ministry, 
the Maoists were suspected of having set booby traps for the 
security forces in seven districts around the country. 
Sixteen more Maoists were killed in retaliatory attacks on 
Thursday, December 5. 
 
MALINOWSKI