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Nepal Maoists call off blockade as army says dozens die in clashes
27 minutes ago South Asia - AFP
KATHMANDU (AFP) - Nepal's Maoist rebels called off a 14-day-old nationwide transport blockade staged to protest King Gyanendra's seizure of power, while the army said at least three dozen rebels died during clashes in the country's west.
AFP/File Photo
Armed convoys had escorted supply trucks and passenger buses in and out of the ancient capital, Kathmandu, in defiance of the blockade which began February 12.
But the blockade slowed movement of traffic to a trickle and sent market prices of vegetables, fruit and other foods, soaring.
"To show our greater responsibility towards the general public, we have decided to call off the ongoing nationwide indefinite transport blockade as of Saturday," a statement signed by rebel leader Prachanda said.
But Prachanda, or the "Fierce One", warned of a countrywide general strike next month unless the king gave up his power grab. "We will be watching political developments in the country," he said in the statement on Saturday.
Sources close to the Maoists, who have waging an increasingly deadly battle for a communist republic in the impoverished Himalayan kingdom since 1996, said the Maoist statement was authentic.
"If there are no changes, our party will be obliged to observe an indefinite nationwide general strike from next month (starting March 14)," Prachanda said.
In a move condemned widely internationally, King Gyanendra declared emergency rule -- including press censorship -- and sacked the government February 1 for what he said was its failure to deal with the insurgency.
Gyanendra has promised to restore peace and democracy in the kingdom in three years. He has also offered unconditional peace talks with the rebels, who have denounced him as the "great betrayer."
The blockade was enforced mainly through fear of rebel reprisals rather than through a show of force. But police said a bus driver was killed and nine passengers hurt Monday when rebels opened fire on a convoy in western Nepal.
The announcement of the blockade's end came after the army said at least three dozen rebels were believed to have died in fierce clashes with soldiers Thursday and Friday. An earlier blockade cutting off supply routes to the capital was staged by the Maoists last summer.
Clashes in the rebel-dominated far-flung western Kailali district were sparked when 400 rebels attacked security forces, the army said.
At least three dozen Maoists were believed killed, it said.
The Maoists have issued no statement about the violence. It was not impossible to independently verify the report due to the remoteness of the location.
The rebels routinely take away the bodies to avoid their identification and their network being uncovered.
In other violence, hundreds of Maoist rebels attacked a state-run Nepalese TV station in the remote southwest, forcing the outlet to suspend broadcasting, said a security official who wished to remain unnamed. The Maoists destroyed and looted equipment from the station but nobody was injured.
The rebels, who bombed the TV station in 1997, have been targeting government-owned institutions and infrastructure across Nepal as part of their fight to oust the monarchy that has claimed more than 11,000 lives.
India and Britain have suspended military aid to the kingdom over the king's actions.
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