US changes terror policy in dealing with Nepal's Maoists
WASHINGTON (AFP) — Years after being a top supplier of weapons against Nepal's Maoist rebels, the United States acknowledged it has made a turnaround to talk to the guerrillas set to assume government control after sweeping elections.
US diplomats have spoken twice to Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal since his Communist Party of Nepal notched a convincing victory in April elections, but Washington for the first time said Thursday it has switched longstanding policy of not negotiating with the once feared insurgents.
But the United States is not prepared yet to remove the Maoist group from US terrorist blacklists, under which party officials are barred from visiting the United States and their assets are frozen, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Evan Feigenbaum told reporters.
"There has been a policy that we had of not making contact with the Maoists," said Feigenbaum, who just returned from Kathmandu after meeting Dahal, who had also had prior talks with US ambassador to Nepal Nancy Powell.
"The fact that Nancy Powell met them and that I met them should suggest to you that we have just revised that policy with respect to this group," he said.
The United States adheres to a strict policy of not negotiating with groups designated as terrorists.
Although the Maoists have not been declared by Washington as a "foreign terrorist organization," which can trigger broad sanctions, they have been on the "terrorist exclusion list" and "specially designated national list" for about five years.
The US policy shift, Feigenbaum said, stemmed from the Maoist participation in a 2006 peace deal reached between the ultra-leftists and mainstream parties that paved the way for elections last month, which they clearly won.
Washington has been a key backer of Nepal's decade-old battle against the insurgents, providing badly needed weapons and training the country's army.
According to a previous report by rights group Amnesty International, the United States had supplied Nepal's previous governments with 20,000 M16 automatic assault rifles and 29 million dollars in military funding since 2001.
The Americans together with India and Britain were among the top weapons sellers to Nepal until about three years ago when King Gyanendra sacked the government and assumed absolute power as the rebel began making headway.
The Maoists have spoken publicly of their desire to be removed from the US terrorist lists but Feigenbaum said Washington wanted to closely watch their actions.
"In terms of next steps, I really wouldn't want to speculate," he said. "It is going to depend. They are on the (terrorism) list, they remain on the list for the moment."
The US has repeatedly called on the group led by Dahal, who goes by the name of Prachanda or the "fierce one," to completely stop using violence and intimidation, and to rein in their much feared Young Communist League.
"The degree to which we can work with anyone in Nepal will depend very directly on the degree to which they continue to embrace the political process and abandon violence," Feigenbaum said.
Some 13,000 people have been killed in the insurgency launched in 1996 to install a communist republic in the world's only Hindu kingdom.
A new constitutional assembly, led by the former Maoist rebels, voted Wednesday to abolish the monarchy and transform Nepal into a republic.
The United States has been providing annually to Nepal 50 to 60 million dollars of various forms of aid, including security, in recent years, officials said.
