The US Ambassador to Nepal Nancy J Powell is leaving in the second week of July after spending nearly two years here. As director general of the foreign service and director of human resources at the US State Department, she will be in-charge of 70,000 plus foreign and civil service personnel. Ameet Dhakal and Damakant Jayshi of myrepublica.com caught up with her to share her experience while in Nepal.Excerpts of the interview:
myrepublica.com: How are going to miss or remember Nepal?
Nancy J Powell: I have lost track of how many times I have come but I look forward to coming back. I didn’t get to do that I still like to do. Certainly this is a very challenging and interesting time for Nepal and to be apart of history that you are writing and I hope it comes out well.
myrepublica.com: Many people believe that you kept a very low profile here? Was it intentional?
Powell: Part of that is my personality. I am used to doing that. I also think I kept a profile that perhaps was in a different place than others have. I tried to be very active in art assistance programs and working with those issues, working on women´s issues and trafficking issues in particular, and then meeting with the politicians without the press attention.
myrepublica.com: Where does Nepal’s peace process stand now?
Powell: I think we all have to be careful no to be too pessimistic. If we look back that it was just five years ago that Nepal was in an insurgency. There has been a great deal of progress. I would join the Nepalis in thinking it should have gone faster and better and smoother but we have to recognize that there has been progress. There are some areas certainly of concerns for my government. First of all, the government can begin to be much more effective to delivering services to people. Many of the VDCs and secretaries are not able to be in their offices; many of the police and other functionaries are not able, at the local level, to protect the people. Health services are disrupted by bandas, by violence. The special committee (on integration of Maoist combatants) now has not met since the government fell back in May. We have been working with the international community, particularly the UN agencies, looking at how you deal with those who were declared non combatants. Those 4000 people need to be removed from the cantonments and to get the parties to agree (on it) so that they get some international support to assist them. You could just kick them out; then you create yourself publicly another problem. We want to make sure that they can earn a livelihood and that they go back into society in normal fashion. Getting the parliament to function again, having the issues surrounding the boycott resolved in one way or another so that the budget can go forward in a normal fashion -- those are all parts of the peace process. Clearly the drafting process has fallen behind on the constitution. People say you will meet the deadline but it will certainly condense the schedule for consultation with the public. It’s important that people know what’s in the new constitution, whether they agree with it or not and express their opinion.
myrepublica.com: What is your assessment of UNMIN’s work and performance in Nepal?
Powell: We have supported UNMIN’s extension in Nepal each time. I anticipate that this time we will do it again. The government has decided that they will like an extension. If I were to judge in addition to UNMIN’s support to elections, it’s joint military coordination committee. It’s been extraordinarily important in creating the ability to discuss issues between the military -- the Nepal Army and the PLA (People’s Liberation Army) -- and to approach this on a technical basis to resolve the issues and to also to create channels of communications. These are the key benefits of having the UNMIN here, of being able to establish those links that might be harder for the Nepalis to establish on their own.
myrepublica.com: In the context of Maoist chairman saying that they increased the number of combatants from 7000 to over 30000, don’t you think that UNMIN flunked in the verification process?
Powell: Frankly, with the acceptance of the verification report by all of the parties and the government of Nepal, I thought my position on it was to say that Nepalis have accepted it. We go forward from here. We could all go back and ask about that but I think you have a starting point which all of the parties have accepted. To go back now and review it is not going to be very productive. The delay that this would cause in the peace process I think is potentially very damaging to Nepal. You need to continue to question what the Maoists’ actions are.
myrepublica.com: You have met the Maoist chairman several times. What do you think about his commitment to democracy or where he would take his party down the line?
Powell: He is very articulate. He speaks to me of the challenges within his party…very difficult task of taking an army that was a revolutionary movement and a military movement into the democratic process. I hope that he is speaking the truth to me when he says those things and I hope that that he is deeply committed to remaining within the political process. I remind him each time that one way or another that words are very, very important. I think Nepalis have put a great stock in his words. The international community has welcomed those words but they need to be matched by actions, not only his own but those of the people within his party. I disagree vehemently with some of the philosophy that is behind the Maoist movement, certainly with some of the economic policies that would be disaster for Nepal and proved to disaster for other countries that have tried them. I also think that there must have been a chord that was struck with many Nepalis and some of the goals that the Maoists articulate – of being more inclusive, and providing a role for women that was expanded from the traditional role in Nepal. Now those goals need to be achieved in a democratic way.
myrepublica.com: How big is the gap between Maoists´ words and action? And does that weigh on the State Department´s calculation in deciding whether or not to lift the terrorist tag off the Maoist party?
Powell: Very much so on the latter point. There have been positive developments: commitment to democracy and participation in elections. They functioned as a ruling party and a coalition. But I think at the same time we have watched the YCL (Young Communist League) continue what are very undemocratic practices. Also there has not been formal renouncement of violence by the party. Again those are words but they are important words. Two of our staff members were killed during the insurgency. We´ve had some explanation for those but nothing has been done in terms of a formal apology, in terms of working with the families of these two men. That we take very seriously.I think we´ve been particularly concerned about the attacks on the media. They started very quickly after I arrived. The violence that´s been perpetrated against the press is the key element that we are looking at. Do the Maoists really mean this because cornerstone of democracy has to be a free press?myrepublica.com: How much is the pressure from the Maoist party on your government to lift the terrorist tag?
Powell: There´s been discussions but I wouldn’t call it pressure. Certainly when Assistant Secretary (Robert) Blake was here, in both his private discussions and during his press conference he explained very clearly that it was again a matter of more than just words (and) making sure their actions reflect this.
myrepublica.com: Could a starting point for lifting the terrorist tag be a formal renouncement of violence by the Maoists?
Powell: It certainly would help. But if you just make a statement and the next day a teacher or a worker from some other party is thrashed, or someone is not allowed to get procurement documents because they do not belong to your party. Many times those of us in Kathmandu miss the extraordinary pressure that´s exerted at the local level. This again needs to be watched carefully. These are not democratic actions.
myrepublica.com: How has the fact that the Maoist are on terrorist list affected US aid to Nepal when they were in government?
Powell: Our assistance continued as it was. Our focus remained in the same places of supporting the peace process, and supporting health issues in particular. Those are the two big areas. We have been able to, within our own system, obtain what we call a waiver that allowed us to meet with the Maoists to coordinate that. But most of the US assistance does not go directly to the government of Nepal unlike some of the other donors. Most of ours goes into project-related activities where we are giving money to a local NGO and international NGO, someone who actually takes a specific set of goals and implements that project. If we were giving the money directly to the government. That might have been more complicated.
myrepublica.com: In that case, the Maoists never felt the need for the terrorist tag to be lifted except for their image.
Powell: I would hope that image is important to them. Being branded a terrorist by the United States government, I hope, still carries some stigma with it. I would hope that they would take the actions that would get them off the list.
myrepublica.com: So you believe that image is good enough to keep the heat on them?
Powell: I think it’s important that until there is concrete evidence of a real change in behavior we at least would keep the designation. The evidence is mixed and I would hope that it would continue to move in the right direction.
myrepublica.com: Last year a Nepali trade delegation led by Nepal’s chief secretary went to the United States to lobby for duty free access to Nepali garments, among other things. The US side suggested access to markets in both countries and duty free regime on other products as well through bilateral negotiations. After the delegation returned, they got positive feedback. But since then, it almost seems to be in cold storage. Could you throw some light on that?
Powell: There are three or four issues in that. Let me take the garment issue first. The whole worldwide system that governs garment imports and exports was changed a few years ago. It became a very open system where this is extraordinarily competitive, and changing those rules you have to deal with the entire world. It’s just not a bilateral agreement. Nepal’s garment industry in this international competition is so young and so small that it’s been very hard for them to compete even if the playing field were level. It’s not level because you have 18 hours of load-shedding for much of the year, you have incredible labor disputes.On the American side, this is a very complex domestic political issue because our own garment industry has been one of those that was hit by competition from overseas. And so the impetus for any change in the regulations really has to come from outside. There has been a bill introduced by Senator (Diane) Feinstein and one other senator. Trying to get this bill through the US Congress will be a major effort because there are lots and lots of members of Congress whose own districts have been affected – not by Nepali competitions; (but) competitions from China, from Korea, from other large manufacturers.The potential for a wider trade agreement…we do have a trade official coming sometime in August who will look at this. We are going to need a government with whom we can negotiate because this is a negotiation and whether the government of Nepal puts this on a priority, whether it can put the attention to it in the midst of the political developments.In terms of US investment in Nepal, I’ve met with the American business community here. They pretty much universally want to be here. But they also have a set of concerns that range from the load-shedding, the question of whether or not rules are going to be fairly and transparently applied to them or whether they are going to be targeted because they are international company. Questions of extortion from various groups from labor unions or others have made it difficult for a number of people to continue here. There are security concerns. Nepal is going to have to work much harder to attract foreign investments. One of the key areas of potential development is hydropower, yet you have 18 hours (of load-shedding); there’s something wrong.
myrepublica.com: How was your Mustang trip experience?
Powell: I had a wonderful time. It was an area that I had never been to before. I went with several goals in mind. One was to follow up on projects. Americans take very seriously what they do with their tax dollars. We had begun a project, cultural preservation, on a very small level. We were anxious to see how this was going and whether or not we could carry it out. In addition to that I was interested in seeing the environmental impact of expanding tourism in Mustang. I very much wanted to see what the road was doing to Jomsom. And to talk to people about what they expected the extension of the road to Lomangthang to do; to have a better understanding of how government services in a very remote region reach people, or as the case was, don’t reach people in many case. I had an opportunity to talk to people, to observe with our own eyes how very remote this area is and yet how it is changing. It was a fascinating experience. I found the publicity on the trip to be extraordinary. It was a very straightforward trip that people used for their own purpose and simply made up stories.
myrepublica.com: We (Republica and Nagarik dailies) simply had your pictures and travel report.
Powell: And I appreciate that. The time when both the articles appeared I acknowledged that it was very nice to have somebody actually come and see who I was meeting and who I was not, and what I was doing. I would hope that where there are such blatant falsehoods, people recognize that. I hope these newspapers´ credibility went down a bit. One of them -- we were reviewing the press today -- and I had to say, ´Is this a Mustang story or is this real´? That has become our shorthand for ´Is this totally a made-up one or is this a real one?´myrepublica.com: The number of Nepalis going to the US is increasing every year? Are there any issues of concern for the US embassy here?
Powell: I think there are a couple. First of all, we are very pleased with that. When I was here before doing the consular work (1980-82), in my first year there were 900 applications. Last year it was something over 35,000 – so a very different range of numbers. In that, there is a huge increase of student which I think is a very positive from the American point of view. It’s also very good for Nepal. Nepal ranks number 11 in the world in terms of the number of students it sent to the United States last year.This isn’t per capita, this is total. If you did per capita, it would be in top two or three.We did a program in spring where we honored our consular official. They used this opportunity to explain to Nepalis that we run a very transparent visa process. We would encourage them to use that transparency; and being very careful about some of the consultants who take their money and do not help them. In fact they hurt them by providing them with fraudulent stories, with fraudulent documents. This is an increasing concern.When I issued 900 visas in my first year, I am fairly confident that no more than what a handful maybe gave me was false. Now it is a daily occurrence for us to get documents that are very, very clearly fraudulent, with stories that are not true. It also means that Nepalis who applied for visa are losing money.
myrepublica.com: 900 in two years?
Powell: No, I did 1200 in the second year. So it is a big increase.
myrepublica.com: So does that sum up the change that Nepal has gone through?
Powell: The 900 who came and applied for a visa, they had enough money to buy a round trip ticket. Many of them were officials, Fullbrighters and others. It was a very small number of Nepalis that had that kind of money. One of the things I noticed is how much the buying power has increased. The number of people who can put together money for their child´s education in the Unites States, or to go to Disneyland or to go visit family in the United States has grown hugely. That means there is more money in Nepal. I see it in the traffic as well. There were very few Nepalis driving cars and almost nobody driving motorcycles. That´s the gauge I use rather than the visa applications. But I also think the pressure to get an education, the pressure to have a job outside has increased the tendency to make fraudulent applications. There are many, many more businessmen going and looking for opportunity. But the big increase out there is students.
source:myrepublica.com
