Nepal rebels assure U.N. over poll threat

KATHMANDU, Thursday (Reuters) - Nepal's Maoist rebels have assured the United Nations that their threat to disrupt municipal elections due in February did not mean they would abduct or kill candidates.

Ian Martin, chief of the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal, had asked the rebels to explain their threat of "special action" to disrupt the polls to 58 municipal councils.

The rebels have assured that action to disrupt the polls "should by no means imply that our cadres have been instructed to abduct or kill those participating in the elections", the U.N. agency said in a statement late on Wednesday.

"OHCHR will, of course, continue to give the highest priority to monitoring the respect for these principles," it said.

Although the Maoists have not explained their threat, the rebels are known for beating, kidnapping or killing people who disobey them.

Municipal elections have been delayed since 2003 because of the Maoist revolt that has killed more than 12,500 people. The royalist government says municipal polls could lead to parliamentary elections in 2007.

The rebels are fighting to topple Nepal's constitutional monarchy and establish one-party communist rule.

Nepal's seven main parties have also pledged to launch protests to thwart the polls, saying they were aimed at legitimising the regime of King Gyanendra, who fired the government and seized absolute power on Feb. 1.