MAOIST CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEET CALLED TO CONSIDER DIFFERENCES

MAOIST CENTRAL COMMITTEE MEETS 18 SEPT.




Kathmandu, 5 Sept 4, UCPN (Maoist) has convened a meeting of its central committee 18 September to discuss the latest differences in the party leading the government.
The differences will impact completing the peace process demanded by the opposition and even the constitution writing process.
The standing committee convened the meeting Sunday.
The standing committee decided to discontinue public protests in favour and against a decision to hand over keys of containers with insurgency-era weapons handed over to the UN.
But the keys to containers were with Maoists despite the handover to the world body.
The keys—not all-have now gone to a special committee headed ex-officio by the prime minister.
A faction headed by First Vice-chairman Mohan Baidya last week protested the handover decision saying Party Chairman Prachanda took a personal decision.
The charge has been denied by the Prachanda and Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai factions in the party now heading the government.
a and by o uplic statmeeting also decided to top all the protest and counters protest programmes till the Central Committee meeting.
Meanwhile, UCPN-Maoist politburo member Haribol Gajurel Sunday said that action would be taken against party vice-chairman Mohan Baidhya ‘Kiran’ for issuing a press statement and launching a movement against the party

decision if he did not admit the mistake and make self-criticism, The Rising Nepal reports.
Speaking at the face-to-face programme of the Reporters Club here, leader Gajurel said that the latest incident was not normal. "It is not a general case to issue two contradictory statements by using the same letter pad of the party," he said
"If Baidhya does not make self-criticism, or fails to correct himself, the party will take severe action against him, otherwise the Maoist will lose its relevance as a disciplined force," Gajurel said.
According to him, if no self-criticism or action was made in the latest incident, anarchy would increase in the party, ultimately leading to disintegration.
He said that the dispute within the Maoists was between the two groups - one willing to conclude the peace and constitution processes and another not willing to conclude them - and accused the Baidhya faction of creating hurdles to concluding peace and constitution writing processes.
He also claimed that some leaders of the Baidhya group were trying the break away the party and said that there was possibility of the exit of the Baidhya group as a small faction.
He, however, said that there were two factions within the Biadhya group.
"One group wants to continue struggle from within the party and another wants to form a separate party," he said.
He accused Baidhya of orchestrating revolution through ‘books,’ which he said, was impossible.
He also claimed that the party would not backtrack from its decision to handover the keys of the arms containers to the special committee and said that the government should move ahead by overcoming all obstacles to accomplish the tasks of peace and constitution.
Nepali Congress leader Dr. Narayan Khadka said that the handover of the keys of the containers was a positive move and added that his party would join the government if a package agreement on the numbers, ranks, modality and rehabilitation of the combatants was made and implemented.
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US INFORMATION SOURCE COMPROMISED

Kathmandu, 5 Sept.: A cable sent by US Ambassador James F Moriarty to State Department 10 April 2007 reveals Dr. Bharat Rawat at Norvic Hospital as a ‘reliable source of information”. Nagarik reports quoting WiliLeaks.
“Dr.Rawat has earned a good reputation as a specialist and the embassy has recommended many persons to him,” the Moriarty cable says.
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COLOUR CODE FOR NEPAL POLICE BUILDINGS





Kathmandu, 5 Sept.: The Nepal Police Headquarters’ (NPHQ) has brought into practice the recently implemented common colour code for all newly constructed and old buildings of the Nepal Police, The Rising Nepal reports.
The common colour code of the Nepal Police is recognized by light yellow colour and blue colour in the border of the buildings and dark brown, also known as escorting line of the building, in their lower part.
The newly announced colour code will be compulsorily implemented in all District Police Offices; police ranges offices, sector, circles and posts established across the country.
Currently, these colour codes were used only in the newly constructed buildings of the Nepal Police, which were destroyed during decade long armed conflict.
Binod Singh, Deputy Inspector General and spokesperson of the Nepal Police Headquarters, said that the main purpose behind the introduction of the colour code was to distinctly identify and maintain resemblance in the buildings of the organisation.
Talking to The Rising Nepal, DIG Singh said that from security point of view, the common colour code would also help general public to seek required security when they are in danger or find themselves in dangerous situation.
"Insecure people can easily seek help and take shelter in the police buildings," DIG Singh said.
Beside compulsory provision for the use of common colour code to newly erected buildings, all old buildings of the Nepal Police would also gradually use common colour code during the colouring time of the buildings.
Last year alone, the Nepal Police in coordination of the Secretariat of the Peace Fund under the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction erected 100 new police buildings in place of the destroyed ones.
Under the second phase of the construction work, the Nepal Police is currently constructing 81 new police buildings across the country.
The budget has been released for the fiscal year of 2068/69and the construction works are in full swing, Subash Shrestha, officer at the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction said.
Be it in Terai, mountainous or Himalayan regions, the Nepal Police building will be now distinctly recognised by all people. Colour code will also help maintain uniformity in the buildings of the organization, DIG Singh said.
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ARMS DEPLEATED TO SERIOUS LOW DURING INSUGRGENCY
Kathmandu, 5 Sept.: The stocks of ammunition of the Royal Nepal Army that was deployed to contain the Maoist insurgency had reached a ‘crisis’ point ahead of the 19 day-April 2006 uprising that ended king’s rule in Nepal, Phanindr Dahal writes sin The Kathmandu Post..
Then Army Chief Pyar Jung Thapa had acknowledged an acute shortage of ammunition during his meeting with the US Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asia, Donald Camp, in March 2006. The US diplomat had visited Nepal to reiterate the message of Bush administration to the king and the agitating political parties.
The US, the UK and India were against the royal takeover of February 2005 and had stopped the supply of arms and ammunition to the Royal Nepal Army.
Camp had shared the Army’s assessment of arms crisis with British Ambassador Keith Bloomfield and Indian Ambassador Shiv Shankar Mukherjee in a lunch hosted by US Ambassador James F Moriarty on March 9. “This was the first time Thapa had acknowledged that RNA’s ammunition shortage had reached a ‘crisis’ point,” states a confidential diplomatic cable sent by the US embassy on March 15.
Another cable sent on February 28 reveals that two weeks before Camp’s visit, then Master General of Ordinance Maj Gen Prakash Bahadur Basynat had informed the US Embassy officials of the critical shortage of all types of ammunition.
He had said the RNA had 16,800 rounds of M-16 ammunition remaining in the depots for its 16,000 M-16s and had 130,000 rounds of INSAS ammunition in central stock for 25,000 INSAS weapons.
The cable signed by Moriarty claims that even the Indians were not aware of this information about ammunition shortage.
‘Corruption in RNA high’
Indian Embassy officials in Kathmandu had information that senior RNA officials had been involved in large-scale corruption in the procurement of arms and other logistics, the March 2006 US embassy cable reveals.
In a meeting with US Embassy officials on March 11, Indian Ambassador Shiv Shankar Mukherjee asserted that corruption in the RNA was high and the senior commanders were “content to acquire arms on the black or gray market” because that was profitable arrangement for them than the government to government deal. “Senior officers were enriching themselves with funds set aside for procurement,” Mukherjee told the US officials. “They had told the Chinese to up their invoices for small arms by 30 percent.”
The Indian ambassador said that the situation in the RNA was bad in view of poor leadership, poor training and low morale. Even foreign countries provided up to ten times more ammunition than provided previously, the army would not be able to defeat the insurgency. Mukherjee claimed that the corruption factor explained why the RNA leadership had not been overly concerned about India, the UK and the US cutting off arms shipments.
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GOVT. OFFICIALS , AMOISTS STOLE FOOD; US EMBASSY
Kathmandu, 5 Sept.: Both central and district level government officials in Nepal had been stealing and selling food given by the World Food Program (AFP) to be sent to areas reeling under food shortage, a secret US embassy cable written in July 2003 said, Bhadra Sharma writes in The Kathmandu Post.
Published by Wikileaks on August 30, the cable also states that the Maoists, too, had a hand in the irregularities.
The then country director of the WFP in Nepal, Erika Joeregensen, had briefed the US embassy in Kathmandu of the irregularities. Joeregensen received reports of irregularities and corruption from the fileds where the Maoists had imposed travel restrictions since May 2003.
In her briefing to the then US Ambassador to Nepal, Michael Malinowsky, Joeregensen said that prior to decentralising its operations, WFP experienced significant setbacks with government cooperation.
While WFP provides 100 percent funding for all food distributed in Nepal and bears 50 percent of the transportation cost, the government contributes to the other 50 percent.
Joergensen learned soon after her arrival that much of WFP's transportation fund was not being drawn upon by the government for the transportation and delivery of food, the cables said.
"She later discovered that government officials at both the central and district levels had been stealing food and selling it for their own personal profit. On the basis of these complaints, Joergensen has filed four cases, which are now pending with the Commission to Investigate Abuses of Authority (CIAA)," the secret cable reads.
The WFP director also reported that district-level officials were directing WFP to approve contracts for the transportation and distribution of food to business firms owned by family and friends.
At the centre, officials at the Ministries of Finance, Agriculture and Local Development would request training abroad ostensibly to learn how the French, for example, run school lunch programmes, the cable said.
According to Joergensen, the ministry officials "would stop working on WFP programmes after the world food body declined their requests."
The cable says that the ambassador quoted Joeregensen as saying that the Maoists also attempted to intimidate WFP field officers and steal food and equipment from WFP.
"More frequently, Maoist cadres steal WFP food supplies either to eat or sell it for cash," Joeregensen told the ambassador, according to the cable.
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