Nepal vigilantes destroy arms days after peace deal

NEPAL: Nepali vigilantes set up to protect villagers from Maoist rebels began destroying their weapons days after a peace deal formally ended the country's decade-old civil war, a human rights official said on Saturday.

Dozens of government-supported vigilantes, also called the village defence forces, had been active since 2005 and set up to protect rural populations from attacks by Maoists battling to overthrow Nepal's monarchy since 1996.

But human rights groups say their presence had actually increased violence in the impoverished Himalayan nation where more than 13,000 have been killed since the conflict began in 1996.

Tej Man Shrestha, protection officer of the National Human Rights Commission, said some members of a vigilante group in the southern town of Nawalparasi, 100 km (60 miles) southwest of Kathmandu, handed over their weapons which were then set on fire.

"We have destroyed seven rifles, one pistol and other crude weapons belonging to the vigilante groups in Nawalparasi," Shrestha told Reuters by telephone from Nawalparasi.

"This is not a big number, but symbolically it is a very important step towards peace in villages."

KATHMANDU, Sunday, Reuters