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| Wednesday, 25 August 2004 |
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US: foreign support key to defeating Nepali rebels WASHINGTON, Tuesday (AFP,Rueters) The United States said international support was essential for Nepal to defeat Maoist rebels, who have cut off access to the Himalayan kingdom's capital for the first time since they took up arms against the government. US State Department deputy spokesman Adam Ereli said the Maoists, who have declared the capital Kathmandu of 1.5 million people off-limits to traffic as part of their drive to topple the constitutional monarchy, should be beaten. He said "clearly we see them as insurgents that need to be defeated. "We think it's important that other countries work with Nepal towards this end." The rebels, who have been waging a bloody "people's war" since 1996 that has claimed 10,000 lives, have rejected government calls for peace talks this week. The United States, which has designated the Maoist Communist Party of Nepal as a terrorist organization, has a security assistance program designed to help the armed forces of Nepal counter the attacks by the Maoists. It had provided almost 21 million dollars in military assistance since 2002, Ereli said. He added that Washington was providing both security and development assistance to help "dry up" support for the rebels. "The important point for us is that we need to work with the government of Nepal and its friends to help reestablish security and address the root causes of the insurgency," he told reporters. "We are working to restore multiparty democracy in Nepal through the electoral process. And we've also taken steps to designate the Maoists under executive order to block their assets and block dealings with them. A key rebel demand for ending the blockade - which is being enforced by fear of reprisals rather than by roadblocks - is that the government stop calling them terrorists. The tag keeps guerrilla leaders hiding in the mountains to avoid arrest. "No fuel", read a signpost at a deserted petrol station in Kathmandu, as a week-old road blockade called by Maoist guerrillas to choke off supplies to the Nepali capital started to bite. But Kathmandu was remarkably calm on Tuesday, with thousands of fume-spewing cars jamming its narrow streets and no signs of panic buying in a city that has only a few weeks of fuel and foodgrains left to supply its 1.5 million people. Vegetable prices have tripled or quadrupled, with very little supplies coming in along a key highway, for fear of guerrilla reprisals. "The city is running on its own devices, the government is in paralysis," said Dhurba Kumar, a teacher of politics at Kathmandu's Tribhuvan University. Kumar said people had little faith in the administration's ability to protect them against the Maoists who control a vast swathe of the countryside and are now threatening cities in classic guerrilla warfare. Few have dared to defy the rebels despite the government's offer of helicopters and military trucks to escort vehicles on highways leading to Kathmandu, ringed by lush green hills. On Monday, there was only a trickle of traffic on the main road linking Kathmandu to the southern plains and major trade route with India. Soldiers in full battle fatigues peered behind sandbags, standing guard at the busiest checkpoint, Nagdhunga. Only 49 trucks, a few escorted by the army, had entered Kathmandu through the checkpoint by Monday evening, against the 600-odd that would usually have snaked up the winding mountain road before the blockade, a local official said. For 400 Nepali rupees, driver Rajendra Nepali agreed to make a 150-km (93-mile) journey in a van to bring stocks of eggs into Kathmandu. An army truck escorted him. "You don't see Maoists or their sympathisers, but there is fear everywhere," he said as he drove into Kathmandu. "There is no stopping the Maoists, they can go on with this blockade indefinitely," said Anil Kumar, who runs several vegetable shops in a crowded Kathmandu market. Kumar said he was selling onions and cauliflowers for thrice the amount before the blockade began. "There is very little supply coming. These prices will go up further." Nepal's embattled government, which the main opposition says must resign for failing to secure the capital, has said it would ensure supplies of basic foodstuffs to Kathmandu. "There is no panic despite the blockade. The government is bringing in essential commodities under armed escort," said Deputy Prime Minister Bharat Mohan Adhikary. "This blockade will fizzle out slowly. |
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