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| Saturday, 13 September 2003 |
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India, US can help Nepal defeat Maoist rebels NEW DELHI, Friday (AFP) India and the United States can together help Nepal defeat the "ruthless" Maoist rebels who last month ended a ceasefire, Washington's top South Asia policymaker said. "The Maoists have shown themselves to be a ruthless enemy by their tactics in the field and through terrorist attacks against both government and innocent civilian targets," US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asia Christina Rocca told a luncheon in New Delhi. "India's historic, cultural and social ties with Nepal continue to make it the most important outside influence on events in that country. Working in tandem, our governments can help Nepal defeat the Maoist threat and re-establish democratic institutions responsive to the needs of the people," she said. Rocca said US involvement in Nepal was meant "to facilitate the government's efforts both to restore security and to focus on development and poverty eradication - some of the social ills that initially gave rise to the Maoists." India is by treaty Nepal's chief military supplier but the United States has stepped up defense aid to the Himalayan kingdom after a surge in Maoist violence beginning in November 2001. A string of gunbattles have been reported since the end of the truce and the Maoists were blamed for seven bombs that went off in quick succession Monday morning around Kathmandu, killing a schoolboy and injuring 16 others. Meanwhile Nepalese officials said the bodies of 20 Maoist rebels killed in battle were found in the west of the kingdom and nine other people died in separate clashes between the guerrillas and troops. The killings bring to 115 the number of deaths reported since the Maoists withdrew from a ceasefire on August 27 and resumed their insurgency aimed at overthrowing the monarchy. An army official told AFP that troops unearthed the decomposing corpses of 20 Maoists killed in a day-long clash August 31 in the Melarani village of Surkhet district, 480 kilometers (300 miles) southwest of Kathmandu. Seven bodies were discovered at the site earlier, according to security forces. |
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