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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KATHMANDU 000168 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/25/2017 
TAGS: PGOV PTER PREL PREF PINR BT NP
SUBJECT: DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER OLI WORRIED ABOUT NEPAL'S 
FUTURE 
 
Classified By: Ambassador James F. Moriarty.  Reasons 1.4 (b/d) 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (C) In a hospital bedside conversation with the Ambassador 
January 23, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister K.P. 
Oli expressed his grave concern about Nepal's political 
situation.  Oli stressed that the Maoists had not given up 
their goal of capturing state power.  He stated that it was 
unacceptable to have a Maoist as Prime Minister Koirala's 
designated successor.  His own Communist Party of Nepal -- 
United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML) was the appropriate party 
to provide an alternative heir apparent, but who?  The Deputy 
PM was sharply critical of several of his party leaders.  Oli 
indicated he was unsure if he would retain a position in the 
Interim Government, but was hoping to return to his work as 
Foreign Minister in the meanwhile, health permitting.  Once 
he recovered he planned, he said, to travel to Thailand for 
additional treatment.  Oli stated that he had just entered 
the hospital after being ill for a month with typhoid and 
hepatitis.  The Ambassador confirmed that the UN Security 
Council was supposed to adopt a resolution on Nepal later the 
same day.  He also passed on a fact sheet regarding the U.S. 
Government's planned Bhutanese resettlement program. 
 
Oli Troubled By Continuing Maoist Abuses 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (C) On January 23, from his bed in the cardiac ward of 
Kathmandu's Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital, Deputy 
Prime Minister and Foreign Minister K.P. Oli voiced his fears 
to the Ambassador about Nepal's future.  He and the 
Ambassador agreed that the Maoists had not given up their 
goal of capturing state power and showed no signs of a 
genuine conversion to democratic norms.  The Maoists 
continued to violate their peace commitments by threatening 
party cadre from the democratic parties as well as Nepali 
citizens and were preventing the re-establishment of police 
posts in many districts, Oli stressed.  Meanwhile, they faced 
no sanctions for their misdeeds.  Politicians wanted to be 
popular so they did not speak out against the Maoists.  The 
security situation had not improved, for which the Deputy PM 
leveled blame at Home Minister Sitaula, who wanted to please 
the Maoists.  Oli also criticized PM Koirala's nephew and 
confidant, Dr. Shehkar Koirala, as another person whose 
naivete as a peace negotiator had contributed to Maoist 
impunity. 
 
Maoist Deputy PM Unacceptable 
----------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Deputy Prime Minister Oli unequivocally rejected the 
idea of a Maoist Deputy Prime Minister in an interim 
government: How could the member of a party which had not yet 
given up its terrorist ways be allowed to become the 
successor to Prime Minister Koirala?  To begin with, Oli 
noted, Koirala was not well, so the Deputy PM would probably 
be required to fill in for the PM at the South Asian 
Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit in New 
Delhi in April as well as any Bay of Bengal Initiative for 
Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) 
summit.  More importantly, if PM Koirala died, Oli added, 
under the Interim Constitution the Maoist Deputy PM would 
automatically succeed Koirala.  There had to be a senior 
Deputy PM from one of other parties to prevent any Maoist 
Deputy PM from grabbing the reins of power.  The President of 
the Nepali Congress (NC), which was the largest party in the 
Interim Parliament, namely Koirala, already had the top job, 
so NC was out.  Nepali Congress - Democratic, Oli said, was a 
splinter group of the NC and far smaller than Oli's own 
Communist Party of Nepal - United Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML). 
 CPN-UML was the appropriate party to provide the senior 
Deputy PM, Oli concluded. 
 
Challenge of Finding a CPN-UML Deputy PM 
---------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Oli had little good to say about most of the senior 
 
KATHMANDU 00000168  002 OF 002 
 
 
CPN-UML leaders.  He described newly appointed Member of 
Parliament Bamdev Gautam as untrustworthy and apt to follow 
whatever policy the Maoists adopted.  The Deputy PM 
characterized CPN-UML Central Committee leader Bohat Mohan 
Adhikari as opportunistic and unreliable.  He was also 
sharply critical of another new CPN-UML MP, Jhalanath Khanal, 
whom he accused of nearly leaving the party -- along with 
Bamdev Gautam and United Left Front chairman C.P. Mainali -- 
several years earlier to form another, more leftist party. 
According to Oli, most of the CPN-UML leaders put their 
personal interests above the country's.  This was not the 
case, the DPM stated, with CPN-UML General Secretary M.K. 
Nepal.  Nepal's problem was that he had no concrete opinions: 
his view on any issue depended on which view he had most 
recently heard.  If a CPN-UML candidate did not end up as the 
senior Deputy PM, Oli indicated it would be better for the 
CPN-UML to stay out of the interim government.  It would be 
intolerable to take instructions from the Maoists. 
 
Oli To Continue? 
---------------- 
 
¶5. (C) In response to a question from the Ambassador about 
Oli's own plans, the Deputy PM replied that he hoped to 
return to his work as Foreign Minister as soon as he was 
able.  His immediate goal, once he had recovered sufficiently 
to travel, was to go to Thailand for additional treatment. 
The Ambassador encouraged him to do so.  Oli bemoaned that he 
had been sick for over a month.  He had developed typhoid 
which had led to jaundice and that he had been recently 
diagnosed with Hepatitis B.  The Deputy PM told the 
Ambassador that the problem was he would get a little better 
and then have a relapse, which was why he had checked himself 
into the hospital that same day.  He expressed his 
frustration that he was sick at a time when so much was 
happening and so much needed to be done.  He remarked that, 
when he was healthy, he was able to balance out the far-left 
elements in the party.  Until he recovered he was unable to 
play that role. 
 
Other Issues 
------------ 
 
¶6. (C) The Ambassador took the opportunity of the hospital 
visit to pass on photos of Oli with the Secretary from Oli's 
visit to Washington in September.  The Deputy PM was 
delighted to see them.  He also previewed the planned 
adoption by the UN Security Council later that same day of a 
resolution on Nepal.  Oli seemed aware that the resolution 
was pending but not that its passage was so imminent and 
expressed his pleasure at the news.  Finally, the Ambassador 
passed on a copy of the fact sheet on U.S. plans to resettle 
up to 60,000 Bhutanese refugees resident in Nepal. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7. (C) Deputy Prime Minister Oli has played a crucial role in 
the current government.  While he has often expressed regret 
to us that Prime Minister Koirala paid little attention to 
his recommendations and even refused to return his phone 
calls, other sources have told us that Koirala highly valued 
Oli's advice.  A former leftist revolutionary who became a 
democrat and was imprisoned for his political beliefs, Oli's 
political credentials are solid.  The Deputy PM has 
repeatedly put his country's interests first, even at risk to 
himself, most notably through his outspoken criticism of 
Maoist abuses.  If, as expected, Oli does leave the 
government after the Maoists join it, it will be Nepal's 
loss.  We hope that he will recover quickly from his illness 
so he can fulfill a moderating role within his own party in 
the coming weeks and strengthen the Prime Minister's resolve 
to hold firm against unreasonable demands from the Maoists. 
MORIARTY