F OCHA Nepal Situation Overview Issue No. 50, covering the period 16-30 June 2009 Kathmandu, 1 July 2009 Highlight s: • Laboratory tests confirm Influenza A (H1N1) virus cases in Nepal • Government scraps UCPN-Maoists' decision on Chief of Army, Cabinet of new coalition still to be formed • UN political mission in Nepal (UNMIN) extended by six months • Norwegian Refugee Council report finds 25% of conflict displaced (IDPs) not registered, many lacking durable solutions CONTEXT Political Developments Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal is yet to completely On 24 June, the Cabinet announced that it had decided to shape his month-old cabinet due to disagreements among request an extension of UNMIN’s mandate, which will end allied parties. A loose alliance of 22 political parties in the on 23 July, stating that the mission’s presence was necessary parliament elected Mr. Nepal as the head of government last to monitor the ongoing peace process. However, the duration month. of the mandate extension was not specified. Madhav Kumar Nepal became the Prime Minister after the During the reporting period Indian Foreign Secretary Shiva Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) Prime Shanker Menon and Pakistani Foreign Secretary Salman Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal stepped down as the executive Bashir conducted an official visit on bilateral issues. head of the state on 4 May. Dahal resigned in protest of the President’s interference with his decision to remove the Chief of Army Staff. Since then, the Maoists have obstructed Safety and security parliamentary sittings and organized general protests. During the reporting period, abduction cases have risen On 20 June, Nepali Congress Vice President, Ram Chandra alarmingly not only in the capital but throughout the country Poudel was elected as Parliamentary Party (PP) Leader. and especially in Terai districts. It has been noticed that the Poudel secured 61 votes while the other contestant, NC increased reasons behind kidnapping/abduction cases both Leader Sher Bahadur Deuba secured only 48 votes. The in Kathmandu and outside is mainly for ransom and parliamentary party also elected 17 PP working committee personal enmity. Taking advantage of the unstable and members, 11 elected unopposed while 6 elected through volatile political situation that lacks surveillance voting. mechanisms, the business community and children are being targeted with impunity. The sum of the ransom ranges A day after a new leader for the Nepali Congress PP was between a few lakhs 1 to a million depending on the victim’s elected, NC party president Girija Prasad Koirala said he and their family’s financial status. wished to leave active politics and hand over full responsibility for leadership to a second generation. He cited The overall security situation of Eastern Region remained health reasons for his decision. tense with increasing security-related incidents. Public movement, daily life and general operations were impacted On 16 June, Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal over the past fortnight due to the protest/ Bandh /strikes and presented a 19-page long political document. The report roadblocks, IED explosions, threats and abduction cases. The states that the Maoists will try to form a national government reasons behind such incidents are mixed - political, ethnic- to conclude the peace process and write the constitution on based, criminal, etc. and were carried out by different time, provided that the President’s ‘unconstitutional’ step is political, non political groups, as well as underground corrected and civilian supremacy is established. groups. On 18 June, the cabinet overturned the previous Maoist-led On 21 June, Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) government’s decision to sack Chief of Army Staff (CoAS) (UCPN-M) demonstrators locked Government offices and General Rookmangud Katawal. In a meeting held at the prevented officials from entering at a number of locations Prime Minister’s office in Singhadurbar, the UML-led throughout the country by staging sit-in demonstrations in government also scrapped the Maoist government’s decision front of the offices for two hours. Although the home to appoint General Kul Bahadur Khadka as the acting army ministry had issued strict instructions to security agencies to chief. The last cabinet meeting of the Maoist-led government ensure entry of civil servants and normal functioning of the held on May 4 had sacked CoAS Katawal and appointed day to day activities in the offices, service in government General Kul Bahadur Khadka as the acting army chief. offices has been disrupted throughout the country. On 22 June, the cabinet decided to appoint Yuvaraj CPN-Maoist Matrika Yadav called for two days strike in Khatiwada as a vice chairman of the National Planning Morang District from 16 June to protest the alleged Commission (NPC). The Prime Minister is the ex officio interference in the Party’s work and displacement of landless chairman of the NPC which is the advisory body for formulating development plans and policies of the country under the directives of the National Development Council 1 (NDC). Currency measurement unit used in Nepal.10 lakhs equals a million Nepalese rupees (approx US$ 13,000) OCHA Nepal Situation Overview, Issue No. 50/ 01 July 2009 1 squatters by the police and some locals at Darbesha of On 25 June, Police arrested leaders from two armed Terai Morang district. Media sources claim that Yadav has groups, Terai Defence Army and Terai Janatantrik Mukti constituted a separate armed wing for the struggle and that Morcha from Chhatiwan, Sarlahi District, according to local the national assembly of the Yadav-led Maoists scheduled for media. Janakpur next month will make the official decision regarding armed revolution. The rebel leader Matrika Yadav During this time, the Peace Ministry has initiated telephone defected from the Unified CPN (Maoist) mainstream with a contact with five armed groups in the Terai to give continuity claim to re-establish the CPN-Maoist some five months ago. to talks held by the previous Maoist led government in February, which imposed a code of conduct. However, On 21 June, UCPN-Maoists seized about 147 bighas 2 of land following a dispute with the government over observation of from a local in Chhitaha, Sunsari. The same dates, 12 the code, relations between the groups and the government government staff including the CDO were locked in the DAO became strained. The new government has expressed office for the whole day. Two senior government officials in willingness to start a review meeting at a time when the Dhankuta were injured by the UCPN-Maoists demonstrators. armed groups have been threatening the government over its stance. Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha (Rajan faction) and On 21 June, a Bara sub-district secretary of UCPN-M was Madhesh Virus Killers state they are ready for talks with the injured after cadres of Janatantrik Terai Mukti Morcha- government. Although the previous government sent a Jwala Singh (JTMM-JS) shot him in the chest and arm. “review letter” to the five Terai armed groups and one armed Locals captured two of the JTMM-JS cadres when they fled group in the hills, talks could not materialize once the the scene and were beaten to death by the villagers. JTMM- Maoist-led government fell, according to local media. JS claimed responsibility for the shooting by phone, according to local media reports. The Pichada Barga Mahasangh-Other Backward Classes (OBC) enforced an indefinite Terai bandh from 16 June Dalit Janajatis announced a Baglung district bandh on 22 demanding the implementation of the previously agreed 11- June, after a clash ensued between the police and Dalit point demands. was called off on 21 June following a four- Janajatis on the issue of inter-caste marriage. The area point agreement with the government. According to the remains tense, with no vehicular movement and entire agreement, the Government will form a committee within market areas, academic institutions, and industries have one month to work with the backward community, provide been closed in Baglung district. treatment for activists who were injured during the bandh On 21 June - The District Administration Office imposed a and release activists who were arrested during the protests. curfew in Dhadingbensi after cadres of the UCPN-Maoist The bandh had affected vehicular movement in the Terai vandalised government offices. According to DAO, the districts of eastern and central Nepal as well as along the curfew has been imposed in Dhadingbesi bazaar from 1500 East-West highway. hrs to 0400 hrs on 22 June. On 22 June, a cadre of an armed Terai group Madhesh Rastra Janatantrik Party (MRJP) reportedly took Reach of the State responsibility for the stabbing death of a man in his home in An OCHA mission to eastern and central Terai (Jhapa, Dhanusa District. According to the media reports, the MRJP Morang, Sunsari, Saptari, Siraha, Dhanusa, Mahottari, attacked the man for charging high interest rates while Sarlahi, Bara, Parsa and Rautahat Districts) found that more loaning money in his village. than 40 percent of VDC Secretaries have moved to District On 22 June, a demonstration by UCPN/M was reported in Headquarters due to threats and warnings of physical attacks Guleriya Bardiya in front of the DPO. The Bardiya were by underground armed groups and criminal gangs. The protesting against the police intervention in its protest majority are from VDCs located near the border. programme on 21 June 2009. Violent threats reportedly resulted in civil servants being On 23 June, UCPN-M cadres pelted stones at the State reluctant to attend work in Terai Districts. Consequently, Minister of Energy at Tikapur (Kailali district), Chandra around two dozen offices in Siraha and Saptari are without Singh Bhattrai, when he was attending the Municipality Chiefs, while others face a severe lack of manpower.