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| Wednesday, 30 July 2003 |
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Maoists wants Nepal to expel US army experts Kathmandu, Tuesday (AFP) Maoist rebels in Nepal have warned the government of "adverseconsequences" if their demands, including the expulsion of US military specialists, are not met by the end of the month, a rebel source said. The warning came in a letter sent by Maoist chief negotiator Baburam Bhattarai to Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa on Sunday night. The letter included a new demand from the rebels - the expulsion of US army experts from the kingdom, a Maoist source said on condition of anonymity. The Maoists have already said they would not negotiate further unless jailed guerrillas were released and King Gyanendra was more directly involved in the peace process. "If our demands are not fulfilled on or before July 31, the government itself would be held responsible for any adverse consequences in future," Bhattarai's letter said, according to the source. The government negotiating team was disappointed to receive the letter, a team member, communications minister Kamal Thapa, said. "Each time we receive a letter from the Maoists, they add more and more demands," Thapa said. "Our earnest effort is to bring them to the negotiating team to solve the problem," he said. "We have taken a soft line to convince the Maoists on various issues they have raised but they are not paying importance to our proposals and assurances," Thapa said. He said the team would respond to the Maoists demands, he said. Apart from a few small-scale skirmishes, Nepal has been at peace since the Maoists and the government reached a ceasefire on January 29. More than 7,800 people have died in fighting since the Maoists in February 1996 declared a "people's war" to topple the constitutional monarchy. The prime minister on Friday tried to bolster the fragile process by saying the government would meet some but not all of the rebels' key demands if they sat down for fresh talks by August 16. The Maoists are staunchly anti-American and have often claimed that the United States is interfering in Nepal's internal affairs by giving aid and weapons and sending military personnel to carry out training. US embassy spokeswoman, Constance Colding Jones, said there were only two military attaches permanently posted in the US embassy in Kathmandu. Joint military exercises by the armies of the two countries have nothing to do with the rebels and are part of "regular training that has been going on for over 10 years," she said. In his letter Bhattarai, the Maoist negotiator, again questioned whether matters agreed on during the first and second rounds of peace talks would be honoured. A particular sticking point is the issue of restricting the movement of the army to within five kilometres (three miles) of their barracks. The rebels say that at the last round of talks, the government agreed to restrict troops. The government, however, said there was no formal agreement. |
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