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| Friday, 24 December 2004 |
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Nepal rebels to blockade key roads to Kathmandu KATHMANDU, Thursday (Reuters) Nepal's Maoist rebels said on Wednesday they would block two of the three main highways leading to the capital, raising fears of another serious disruption of supplies to Kathmandu. The rebels, fighting to topple the constitutional monarchy and establish communist rule, successfully cut off the hill-ringed capital from the rest of the country for a week in August, choking it of food and fuel supplies. Although the rebels were not physically present to enforce their August blockade call, fear of deadly attacks by the guerrillas kept most traffic off the roads. The latest ban on vehicle movement was due to start on Thursday. Violence in the poor Himalayan kingdom has accelerated in the run up to a Jan. 13 deadline by Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for the rebels to join talks. "No means of transport will be allowed on these roads," a local Maoist leader said in a statement to Nepali media, referring to the Nagdhunga-Benighat and Bhainse-Naubise roads that link Kathmandu to the southern plains. The two highways carry about 90 percent of supplies to the Kathmandu valley, home to about 1.5 million people. The valley is connected by a third highway that links it to Tibet to the north and two smaller roads. A government minister said Kathmandu would step up security on the highways. "The government will provide adequate security to drivers and vehicles to move on the roads," Agriculture Minister Hom Nath Dahal told Reuters. The rebels said the ban would stay until the rebels received information about hundreds of their missing comrades. The ban was also a protest against alleged custodial killings of Maoists, who authorities say died in clashes with soldiers. The Maoists control two-thirds of rural areas in the nation and have carried out a string of bomb blasts in the tourist hub of Kathmandu in recent weeks. Officials said rebels set 18 trucks on fire in southern Nepal and ambushed an army patrol in Phaplu near Mount Everest in east Nepal on Wednesday, killing one soldier. Elsewhere, soldiers shot dead three guerrillas in separate clashes, an army officer said. At least 80 people, mainly soldiers and rebels, have been killed in the past week in rebel attacks or gun battles ahead of the deadline for the Maoists to begin peace talks. The rebels have rejected the deadline and pledged to derail national elections that Prime Minister Deuba has vowed to hold. The eight-year revolt has killed more than 10,000 people, wrecked Nepal's economy, scared away tourists and threatened the stability of multi-party democracy set up in 1990. |
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