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

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 KATHMANDU 000087 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SA/INS 
LONDON FOR POL - RIEDEL 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/15/2013 
TAGS: PHUM PREL MCAP MOPS NP
SUBJECT: NEPAL:  ARMY FACES CRITICISM FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 
VIOLATIONS 
 
REF: A. (A) 02 KATHMANDU 0634 
     ¶B. (B) 02 KATHMANDU 1191 
     ¶C. (C) 02 KATHMANDU 1372 
     ¶D. (D) 02 KATHMANDU 1890 
 
Classified By: AMB. MICHAEL E. MALINOWSKI.  REASON:  1.5 (B,D). 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1.  (SBU)  The Royal Nepal Army (RNA) has come under fire 
recently from a variety of sources, both local and 
international, for human rights abuses committed while 
fighting Nepal's bloody six-year-old Maoist insurgency.  Most 
disturbing, according to some sources, is the pattern of 
apparent impunity that has so far insulated rank-and-file 
soldiers as well as officers from prosecution.  The human 
rights cell set up by the Army in July has so far not 
demonstrated an ability or a will to investigate cases 
thoroughly.  The RNA's recent mishandling of rape allegations 
against two officers offers a sobering case in point, 
suggesting some in the Army may be willing to go to 
considerable lengths to protect and exonerate their own, even 
in the face of significant evidence of guilt. The Maoists' 
abysmal human rights record notwithstanding, widespread and 
persistent human rights abuses pose a continuing obstacle to 
the RNA's efforts to contain the insurgency.  The Embassy 
will step up its ongoing dialogue with the RNA about human 
rights and hopes to offer increased support for human rights 
training and capacity-building in the investigative cell. 
End summary. 
 
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RECENT REPORTS SCORE RNA RIGHTS RECORD 
--------------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) A number of end-of-year reports by international 
and local human rights organizations have criticized the 
Royal Nepal Army (RNA) and police, as well as the Maoists, 
for a variety of abuses.  Amnesty International, Human Rights 
Watch, Nepal's National Human Rights Commission, and a local 
NGO called the Informal Sector Service Center (INSEC) have 
all described a situation in which Nepalis are suffering from 
escalating violations committed by both the Maoists and the 
security forces.  Despite the difficulty of obtaining and 
verifying information in areas hit hardest by the insurgency, 
local journalists are devoting greater effort to recounting 
and documenting stories of abuses on both sides.  Unrelenting 
press coverage of one incident, in which five boys and young 
men returning from late-night festivities on November 27 were 
mistakenly shot and killed by RNA soldiers in Nuwakot 
District, succeeded in eliciting from the RNA an admission of 
the innocence of the five--whom Defense Ministry press 
releases had previously described as "terrorists"--and a 
recommendation of compensation for their families. 
 
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HUMAN RIGHTS CELL 
-------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C) In July the RNA established a human rights cell to 
review complaints of violations (Ref C).  (Note:  The Home 
Ministry announced the establishment of its own human rights 
unit on January 14, 2003.  End note.)  In 2002 the cell 
accepted more than 1,200 inquiries from the general public, 
organizations, and NGOs, the bulk of which relate to missing 
persons, according to Major Pankaj Karki.  According to 
Karki, a number of these complaints date from before late 
2001, when the RNA was first mobilized against the 
insurgents.  None of these complaints appears to allege 
extra-judicial killings.   The RNA has responded to about 50 
of these complaints so far. The head of the National Human 
Rights Commission complained to us in December that his 
organization has so far had no success in securing action 
from the RNA on any of the cases it has brought before the 
Government of Nepal (GON).  The cell has investigated eight 
allegations of human rights abuses by the RNA, six of which 
were brought to its notice by the U.S. Embassy and two by the 
German Embassy.  (Other high-profile allegations were not 
investigated, apparently, because no one brought a complaint.) 
 
¶4.  (C)  Although the Embassy has seen no copies of reports 
of investigations conducted by the cell, discussions with 
cell members suggest a general lack of thoroughgoing, 
impartial inquiry.  The examiners, for the most part, seem to 
have limited their questioning to alleged perpetrators and 
their superiors, as well as the Chief District Officer and 
local police authorities, although in a few cases surviving 
victims themselves were contacted.  Medical personnel; 
neighbors; potential eyewitnesses; and local political, 
community, religious, or business leaders do not appear to 
have been interviewed.  Of the six cases raised before the 
human rights cell by our Embassy, in only one--the apparent 
extra-judicial killing of Kancha Dongol in Kathmandu on March 
15, 2002 (Refs A and D)--has any punishment been meted out. 
(Note:  The concerned battalion also has been excluded from 
US-funded military training because of evidence of gross 
human rights violations.  End note.)   On January 13, 2003, 
the human rights cell reported its findings to the Embassy: 
that Dongol was shot while trying to escape.  Two sergeants 
remain in RNA custody for dereliction of duty in permitting 
the attempted escape.  Poloff reiterated past statements to 
the cell that a photograph of Dongol's corpse reveals a wound 
in the temple from a bullet apparently fired from close 
range, as well as indications of torture (Ref D).  She also 
asked if any of the five other men arrested with Dongol (one 
of whom claimed to have been a witness to his killing) had 
been questioned; the cell had not contacted them.  On January 
15 a member of the cell told poloff the JAG was not satisfied 
with the previous investigation and was reviewing the 
possibility of reopening the case. 
 
¶5.  (C) In two of the other cases raised by the Embassy, the 
RNA had admitted mistakenly killing innocent civilians 
(including two adolescents) and has recommended to the 
civilian government that the families be paid compensation. 
(Note:  Purported eyewitnesses to one of these killings--that 
of a 12-year-old girl--have told human rights groups and the 
local press that the security forces took the child from her 
home to a field and shot her.  The RNA contends the girl 
failed to heed an order to stop during a cordon-and-search 
operation in her village.  End note.)  In the remaining three 
cases raised by the Embassy, the soldiers involved were 
exonerated.  (Note:  Two other cases raised by the Embassy 
have apparently not yet been investigated.  End note.)  Of 
the two cases raised by the Germans, one officer was 
disciplined by being denied admission to staff college for a 
year; in the other, all involved were exonerated. 
 
-------------------------------- 
RAPE ALLEGATIONS DRAW ATTENTION; 
INDICATIONS OF COVER-UP 
--------------------------------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU)  One of the cases raised by the Embassy was the 
alleged custodial rape committed against two teenaged female 
cousins by two officers at Chisapani Barracks in Nepalgunj, 
Banke District in April, which was published in Amnesty 
International's December 19 report on Nepal.  Amnesty's 
account of the incident, which contained the names of both 
victims and one of the alleged perpetrators, was picked up 
and broadcast widely by the local media.  (Note:  Amnesty has 
since been criticized by a number of local NGOs and others 
for printing the girls' names.  End note.)  The local BBC 
correspondent's interview with one of the girls was also 
aired December 19.  In the days following publication of the 
report, Amnesty International and a local human rights group 
charged that Captain Ramesh Swar, one of the alleged 
perpetrators, and Major Ajit Thapa, his immediate superior, 
had threatened and intimidated the girls and their families 
into publicly recanting their statements.  Military guards 
were posted at the girls' home, and the girls were prevented 
from communicating with human rights workers, several sources 
said.  The state-owned media subsequently broadcast a 
statement by one of the girls, in which she declared nothing 
had happened to her during her detention at the barracks.  On 
December 31 the Chief District Officer in Banke District (the 
highest-ranking civil servant in the district, the CDO is an 
employee of the Home Ministry) held a public meeting in which 
one of the girls and members of her family recanted the 
previous allegations of rape. 
 
¶7.  (C) According to Mandira Sharma of the human rights NGO 
The Advocacy Forum (protect), Captain Swar, Major Thapa, and 
others in the RNA had threatened the girls and their family 
members with harm unless they took back their statements. 
Sharma's organization had first documented the case in April, 
and helped obtain psychological counseling for both girls and 
medication for one who was experiencing excessive bleeding. 
According to what the girls told Sharma (and, subsequently, 
the BBC correspondent), they were detained by the Captain in 
an effort to extort money from an uncle, who is apparently a 
local smuggler.  After the rapes, the Captain reportedly 
continued to harrass the girls and their families for money. 
Sharma said she suggested the girls speak with Amnesty 
International investigators during their field investigation 
in September, which they agreed to do.  After the report was 
published, however, the threats against the girls and other 
family members escalated, according to Sharma.  The Advocacy 
Forum lawyer who initially took the girls' statements 
reported being threatened as well; the NGO has since moved 
him to Kathmandu for his own protection.  With RNA guards 
posted outside their houses, the families of the girls 
apparently felt they had no option but to recant their 
statements, Sharma said. 
 
¶8.  (C) Members of the RNA human rights cell have already 
completed an initial investigation into the incident, 
recommended no cause for action since the girls have 
retracted their statements, and have forwarded their report 
to the Chief of Army Staff for approval. (Note:  Both Captain 
Swar and Major Thapa remained in their posts at Chisapani 
Barracks after the story first broke and throughout the 
course of the investigation.  End note.)  RNA investigators 
apparently did not question anyone other than the girls, some 
family members, and RNA soldiers as part of their inquiry. 
Local religious leaders who knew of the incident, the owner 
of a local pharmacy where one of the girls sought medical 
treatment, the human rights organization that brought the 
allegations, and the BBC correspondent who interviewed one of 
the girls were not contacted.  JAG Brigadier General B A 
Sharma, who heads the human rights cell, asserted that the 
RNA had to post guards at the house for the girls' own 
protection.  Sharma acknowledged in retrospect that the RNA 
should not have allowed the accused to remain in a position 
of authority in the area after allegations were made and the 
investigation was ongoing, and also tacitly admitted the 
potential for intimidation under such circumstances.  That 
said, he concluded, "what to do?" if the girls have already 
dropped charges.  Nor did members of the cell appear puzzled 
that unmarried girls in a conservative society should 
fabricate allegations of rape.  One investigator, brushing 
aside evidence that the girls had recounted their stories 
independently to the human rights organization months before 
and to the media, speculated that enemies of the family had 
manufactured the story to defame the girls and/or 
"communalists" (the girls are Muslim) had spread it to create 
ill will between the RNA and the local population. 
 
------------ 
WHAT TO DO? 
------------ 
 
¶9.  (C)  Comment:  Domestic insurgencies tend to be nasty, 
bloody and vicious.  The Maoists have amply demonstrated on 
countless occasions their own willingness to inflict savage 
abuses on the beleaguered civilian population.  We are 
prepared to believe that most of the human rights abuses 
ascribed to the RNA can be attributed to lack of training and 
discipline, poor intelligence, and fear instilled in soldiers 
by chronic Maoist brutality.  We believe that our ongoing 
training is ameliorating some of this incompetence.  The 
Banke rape case, however, appears to be a particularly 
egregious example of a criminal assault for criminal purposes 
not even nominally related to the insurgency.  We have 
impressed on the RNA and on others in the GON the need to 
demonstrate accountability, and our ongoing dialogue with 
high-ranking officers appears to resonate, at least on a 
rhetorical plane.  Unfortunately, however, the RNA's 
ham-fisted handling of this case raises serious doubts about 
the integrity of its investigative processes.  The Embassy 
plans to raise this concern with senior military leaders, 
emphasizing that continued USG military assistance is closely 
linked to evidence of greater accountability.  At the same 
time, with our British colleagues, we plan to engage with the 
human rights cell on a more sustained basis, demanding more 
thorough and more impartial investigations, encouraging more 
appropriate penalties, and sharing best practices.  In this 
context, we plan to include in this year's MPP requests for 
additional resources to support further human rights training 
for the RNA, civilian police and Armed Police Force, as well 
as assistance to the RNA to upgrade investigation techniques 
and capabilities for its human rights cell. 
 
MALINOWSKI