By Sudeshna Sarkar
IANS
Kathmandu : The American ambassador to Nepal was Friday stoned by the youth wing of the Communist Party of Nepal just as a group of European envoys met the party's chief to express concern about the controversial young rebels, a television channel reported.
Ambassador James Francis Moriarty, who was traveling in a vehicle belonging to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) came under a fusillade of stones from activists of the Young Communist League in eastern Nepal, the private television channel Kantipur reported.
The American ambassador, the guerillas' bete noire, was returning from a visit to a camp in Jhapa district, home to Bhutanese refugees.
Moriarty visited the camp to inform refugees about a US resettlement offer and about plans for USAID, Washington's foreign aid wing, to provide new food aid worth two million dollars.
The American Embassy in Kathmandu confirmed the attack but said it did not know who the assailants were.
Earlier this month, the rights group Human Rights Watch said the US resettlement plan had triggered tension in the camps with refugees who favour returning to Bhutan trying to intimidate others into rejecting the offer.
A new political party – the Communist party of Bhutan-Marxist Leninist Maoist – wants the Bhutan government to take the refugees back. There have been reports in Nepal's media that the Bhutanese Maoists favour staging an armed uprising, much as the Nepal Maoists did.
Alarmed by the reports, the UNHCR held consultations with Nepal's home ministry, resulting in Nepal reinstating police pickets in all the camps.
Ratan Gazmere, a senior Bhutanese refugee leader, says much of the leftist opposition to the resettlement offer is because it is perceived as coming from the US.
However, other western countries like Canada have also made resettlement offers.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres visited Bhutan Thursday to discuss repatriation with the government in Thimpu, arguing that refugees should have as many options as possible.
The attack came even as European Union ambassadors to Nepal, headed by German ambassador Franz Ring, met Maoist supremo Prachanda Friday to express their concern about youth violence.
Ring said the EU was concerned that free and fair elections would not be possible in view of the worsening political situation in Nepal. The EU is also worried about the growing militant activities of the Young Communist League, which has been attacking government offices and officials.
The mounting criticism of the cadre caused Prachanda this week to meet with their leaders and advise them to use restraint.