American Diplomatic Cable: Girija Prasad Koirala and Prachanda Meet in Singapore

Prachanda did not trust his son Prakash

2009-12-01 12:07

S E C R E T KATHMANDU 001094

SIPDIS
NOFORN

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/30/2019
TAGS: PGOV PREL PINR IN NP SN CH
SUBJECT: NEPAL: PRACHANDA MEETS KOIRALA, INDIANS, CHINESE
IN SINGAPORE

REF: KATHMANDU 1090

Classified By: Charge d’Affaires, a.i., Randy W. Berry. Reasons 1.4 (b/
d).

¶1. (S/NF) During his November 16-18 trip to Singapore, Maoist
Chairman Pusha Kamal Dahal “Prachanda” met Nepali Congress
leader G.P. Koirala, Indian diplomats, and Chinese officials.
Maoist head of international affairs Krishna Bahadur Mahara
and Nepali businessman Dinesh Manandhar accompanied
Prachanda. Manandhar (strictly protect) told Emboff November
30 that the Singapore-based telecommunications company Smart
Telecom paid for airfare (business class), vehicle rental
(BMW), and hotels (Four Seasons) for the Maoist delegation.
Manandhar — who is personally close to Mahara but says he is
not a member of the Maoist party — is the local Nepali
partner of Smart Telecom, and handled logistics for the
delegation. He did not participate in the meetings.

¶2. (S/NF) According Manandhar, Prachanda met first with S.D.
Muni, an Indian academic with long-standing ties to the
Nepal’s Maoists and the Government of India (GOI). He then
met retired Indian diplomat and former GOI Ambassador to
Nepal K.V. Rajan, who was joined by a current “senior” GOI
Foreign Ministry official, whom Manandhar did not know.
Manandhar said that Muni organized the trip and facilitated
the meetings with the GOI. Prachanda also met twice with
“Chinese officials” (NFI).

¶3. (S/NF) Following the initial round of discussions with the
Chinese and Indians, Prachanda met privately for thirty
minutes with Nepali Congress head G.P. Koirala, who was in
Singapore for medical treatment, at Koirala’s hospital.
Following the one-on-one meeting, Koirala’s daughter and
Maoist Mahara joined the two for another twenty minutes.
(Note: Koirala told Charge November 25 that the two agreed to
create a “high-level political mechanism” to promote the the
peace process (reftel). Kathmandu papers are rife with
rumors that Koirala and Prachanda also agreed to replace the
current government with a Maoist-Nepali Congress coalition
government, although the ailing Koirala would face serious
opposition to such a move from inside his party. End Note.)

¶4. (S/NF) Manandhar said that Prachanda was in a “very good
mood” following the meetings and “celebrated” late into the
night. He was particularly pleased by the discussions with
the Indian officials, who hosted a dinner for Prachanda on
November 17.

¶5. (S/NF) Asked about whether Prachanda’s son Prakash
accompanied the delegation (as he often does), Manandhar said
he did not because Prachanda did not trust him. According to
Manandhar, Prakash drinks heavily and is not reliable.
BERRY