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US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs CHRISTINA ROCCA recently visited Nepal. She addressed a talk program on "Nepal-US Relations Today" on May 10. She addressed a press conference just two hours before her departure to Dhaka, Bangladesh on May 11. This was her fourth visit under current position. Excerpts of her interaction with the press and her remarks at the talk program:

I want to say how happy I am to be back in Nepal. Over the past few days, I have been assessing the situation back here and expressing the concern over my government on the situation here. In meeting with the government of Nepal and political party leaders and civil society, I have seen a great interest and concern about the US policy with respect to Nepal. In each meeting, I expressed my government’s firm belief that reconciliation between the government and political parties is crucial if Nepal is to move towards functioning democracy and to address the brutal Maoist insurgency. My meetings have been productive and I found considerable receptivity to our hope that all legitimate political forces will unite in pursuit of those twin goals.

I think that at this point of time there does not seem to be any indication that Maoists have any interest in a real democracy in Nepal. What we want to see is the legitimate democratic forces in Nepal pull together either to bring Maoist in peaceful democratic dispensation or find a way to deal together to face the problems facing the country.

The military assistance remains under review. The US government has made it very clear that we are very concerned about the democratic situation, the situation of civil liberties and there is a need to release political prisoners and restore of civil liberties. Till then, the military assistance remains under review.

I am not going to get into the business of commenting on the various options on the table. I think the first thing is that the King and the political parties find ways forward. The coming together of the parties is obviously a step in the right direction. I don’t want to comment on particular framework or idea.

First of all I am not going to discuss the details of the conversation that I had with the King. I said in my opening statement, with my conversation, I hope that they will move forward on reconciliation. On the issue of when full democracy will be restored, the position of the United States government is hopefully as soon as possible. The president has made it very clear in his inaugural speech that democracy is extremely important to us and we will defend as we can and encourage democracy everywhere. I am hopeful that there will be a way forward for the political parties and the King to reconcile and bring the country to full democracy.

Lifting of the emergency is a good first step but clearly a lot of things need to be done including restoration of civil liberties and release of all political prisoners. We remain concerned about the reports of continuing repression of civil liberties and additional arrests.

We are hopeful as the situation is different now as the country is facing increasing existential threat. When I was here a couple of years ago, Maoists were active in 30 some districts and now they are active in 72. It is clear that the threat is large. It is time for the King and the political parties to pull together. Even after February 1, the Maoists continue to attack and they are still clearly active. Our goals for Nepal can be put quite simply: we want Nepal to be peaceful, prosperous and democratic country where civil liberties and human rights are protected.

This is the problem of Nepal and Nepal needs to deal with this problem. It is not something that any other country can do. International community as a whole is extremely concerned about the potential threat of destabilization in Nepal spreading to entire region should there be Maoist takeover. It is going to be very dangerous and the first people who would be negatively affected in a dramatic disaster from humanitarian perspective will be the people of Nepal. That was one of the reasons why we called upon the political parties and the King to pull together.

In 1951, our economic assistance and Fulbright programs began here. Our total development assistance over the years amounts to $ 400 million. American development assistance to Nepal has increased dramatically over the past two years, jumping from $ 24 million to $42 million annually. Over half of this increased amount - $ 23 million - is earmarked for basic health programs - from the Vitamin A program that saves the lives of 25,000 children each year to HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention. Other projects involve support for democratic institution building, such as judicial reform programs, anti-trafficking, generating employment and income opportunities in rural areas to promote peace, facilitating agricultural market development, and last but not least, hydropower development. Development assistance continues unabated and it is up to 42 million this year. I anticipate that level is subject to review in the Congress. Our security assistance over the past four years, including a one-time appropriation of $ 12 million in 2002, amounts to $ 22 million overall. So far as the resumption of military assistance is concerned, I cannot answer now. In 1952, the first American library was opened by the then US Information Service. In 1962, the Peace Corps program was established in Nepal. I am very happy to say that all programs continue to flourish - with the exception of the Peace Corps - which had to suspend operations last October due to security concerns. And I hope that the Peace Corps will be able to resume operations as soon as that is feasible.

There is a specific provision in US law which prohibits us from engaging with a military unit that have been involved in human rights abuse. An important focus of our engagement with the government of Nepal and its security services will remain the critical need of increased respect for human rights. We continue to check on military units to ensure that none implicated in human rights violations receives U.S. Assistance; we have made it clear to the government that we expect to see appropriate, timely and transparent investigations of any credible allegations of abuse and that failure to do so could jeopardize our ability to continue assistance.

I spoke to the King about concerns from Washington about the release of political prisoners, restoration of civil liberties and our desire to see the country reconcile as in the past and the political parties and the King coming together in some manner so they can face the existential threat facing Nepal, which is the threat of the Maoists.

Let me say, indeed, we do coordinate our responses as we found commonalities of interest. Every country has its own perspective on its internal view of arms supply. It is still under review in the United States.

The United States intends to continue our close relationship with Nepal and build trade, investments and tourism. We will gladly work with all legitimate forces to make this a reality. The American people and their representatives in Congress take Nepal’s best interest to heart and watch development closely. We, in the executive branch, have to be able to tell them there is political will among all the legitimate political elements to make progress toward peace and the restoration of a true multi-party democracy, including elections at the earliest possible time.