VZCZCXYZ0001
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHKT #0677/01 0721210
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 131210Z MAR 06
FM AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0693
INFO RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 9360
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 9386
RUEHLM/AMEMBASSY COLOMBO 4307
RUEHIL/AMEMBASSY ISLAMABAD 2291

UNCLAS KATHMANDU 000677 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR SCA (CAMP, DONALD) 
DEPT FOR SCA/PPD (SCHWARTZ, LARRY) 
DEPT FOR SCA/INS  (GOWER, MOLLY) 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OEXC SCUL PREL KMDR OPRC KPAO NP
SUBJECT:  PDAS CAMP REITERATES BUSH MESSAGE ON NEPAL 
 
 
Summary: 
-------- 
 
¶1.  (U) At a press conference in Kathmandu March 9, 
visiting PDAS Donald Camp built on President Bush's March 
2 statement on Nepal and Ambassador Moriarty's February 
15 policy speech to reiterate that the United States 
wanted to see the King reach out to the political parties 
and the Maoists give up violence.  A March 8 digital 
videoconference with the NSC's Senior Director for South 
and Central Asia and former Kathmandu DCM, Elisabeth 
Millard, also helped bring home the message that the 
United States believes reconciliation is the best way to 
get back to democracy and that the USG will question 
Maoist intentions until they show commitment in actions, 
rather than just words.  Both the DVC and Camp's press 
meet the next day made front-page headlines, with op-ed 
writers and political party pontificators correctly 
analyzing both as high-level USG support for Ambassador 
Moriarty's recent public comments about the urgent need 
for reconciliation.  End Summary. 
 
Camp Reiterates U.S. Message of Reconciliation 
--------------------------------------------- - 
 
¶2.  (U) A lead article in The Himalayan Times (pro-India 
English daily, circulation: 40,000) on March 10 got the 
message of Camp's March 9 press meet: "He reiterated the 
two basic factors proposed by the U.S.: reconciliation 
between the King and political parties and the end of 
Maoist violence - for peaceful, prosperous, and 
democratic Nepal. ... Citing U.S. President George W. 
Bush and Indian Prime Minister Man Manmohan Singh's 
recent meeting in New Delhi, Camp said, 'The two 
statesmen agreed that the Maoists should abandon violence 
and that the King should reach out to the political 
parties.'"  In a similar front-page story the same day, 
the Kathmandu Post (centrist English daily, circulation: 
30,000) made a point of saying that Camp "endorsed 
Ambassador Moriarty's public statement last month that 
the parties-Maoist alliance against the king was 
'wrongheaded.'"  The Post also linked this to the 
President's March 2 statement, quoting Camp as saying, 
"President Bush speaking publicly on the subject is an 
indication of the importance [the President] attaches [to 
Nepal]."  An article in Nepal Samacharpatra (vernacular 
daily, circulation: 65,000) characterized Camp's remarks 
as a continuation of American policy, writing: "U.S. 
reiterates old view, and asks the King and parties to 
reconcile." 
 
COMMENTARY: OUR MESSAGE HEARD LOUD AND CLEAR 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  (U) The Himalayan Times' March 10 editorial disagreed 
with the USG's reconciliation policy but still understood 
the message correctly: "Donald Camp ... has concluded his 
two-day visit to Nepal by repeating the American position 
that the King and the political parties should bury the 
hatchet and that the Maoists must renounce violence. 
This American position has been unhelpful to a genuine 
search for a broad-based democratic political settlement 
in Nepal. Supposing that the palace and the parties came 
together, what next?"  An op-ed March 11 by the head of 
the influential Nepal Press Institute in The Kathmandu 
Post (who had attended the DVC with the NSC's Millard) 
was more sympathetic: "Men and women in Kathmandu (and 
elsewhere in the country) who earlier had thought that 
the opinions and observations of James F Moriarty, US 
ambassador to Nepal, mainly in the speech he delivered on 
February 15 at the Ganesh Man Singh Academy, as something 
casual or locally formulated policy prescription were 
clearly mistaken. ... What President Bush, his senior 
officials including Donald Camp and Elisabeth Millard as 
well as his envoy in Kathmandu are constantly and 
consistently saying is that all the Maoists need is to 
abandon violence --- in words as well as in deeds. 
Actions speak louder than words. But this is precisely 
where the Maoists have failed to honor their promises, 
contained in the 12-point understanding and other 
pronouncements. ... The U.S. president's message to the 
Nepali monarch is also loud and clear. He has been 
advised to reach out to the political parties to restore 
democratic institutions." 
¶4. (SBU) The Rising Nepal (government-owned English 
daily, circulation: 10,000) also published an op-ed on 
Camp's visit, with the writer focusing on the USG's 
hardline stance on the Maoists but, interestingly, 
discussing prospects for reconciliation at some length: 
"Camp repeatedly told reporters ... that Ambassador James 
¶F. Moriarty's frank remarks denouncing the 12-point New 
Delhi agreement between the Maoists and the Seven Party 
Alliance was an official U.S. policy statement. ...  Camp 
also asked the political parties to play a more 
constructive role [in dialogue with the King]. ... 
[Foreign Minister] Pandey later said there were 
'similarities' in the calls of Bush and the King on 
National Democracy Day for a dialogue." 
 
¶5. (SBU) Political party leaders also clearly understood 
the U.S. message and in newspaper articles on March 11, 
one party leader referred to "shortcomings" in the 12- 
point agreement between the parties and the Maoists. 
Some party leaders are currently in New Delhi to discuss 
the agreement but are taking great pains to show they are 
trying to pull the Maoists into the mainstream rather 
than allow themselves to be pulled into a violent Maoist 
agenda: "We cannot go along with an armed movement," said 
Nepal Congress Democratic leader Dr. Minendra Rizal.  On 
March 11, The Kathmandu Post quoted Nepali Congress 
leader Arjun Narsingh KC saying the Maoists must stop all 
programs that affect the people, a seeming call for the 
Maoists not to implement their scheduled indefinite 
nationwide bandh and Kathmandu blockade starting March 
¶14.  KC also spun Camp's visit as support for the 
political parties, though he acknowledged the PDAS's 
caution for the parties "not to get carried away by the 
Maoist agenda," something Ambassador Moriarty has been 
cautioning publicly for several weeks.  (Note:  Both 
Rizal and KC attended a March 9 dinner hosted by the 
Ambassador in honor of PDAS Camp.  End Note.) 
 
COMMENT: 
-------- 
 
¶6.  (SBU) Camp's and Millard's interaction with the press 
usefully reiterated U.S. policy, on the heels of a much- 
celebrated "24-word" sentence about Nepal from President 
Bush.  Those in the parties and media who had fretted 
over the Ambassador's February 15 caution about Maoist 
intentions and call for reconciliation had on the other 
hand welcomed the President's statement.  Camp and 
Millard made clear those messages were one and the same. 
 
SCHLOSSER