Reports on Nepal's Civil War
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Highway hell (December 2004)
Nothing to smile about (December 2004)
Teachers at the frontlines (December 2004)
Rebelling against rebels (November 2004)
Blocked artery: "We couldn't take it anymore" (December 2004)
Dailekh's brave mothers (November 2004)
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Highway hell
December 2004
SETTING FIRE TO ANYTHING THAT MOVES
On the eve of King Gyanendra's visit to India, the Maoists launched a campaign to cripple the country by blocking off all main highways in Central Nepal with booby-trapped barricades. For Kathmandu Valley, this is effectively another blockade since all four highways linking the capital to the rest of the country have been blocked for two days now. Shops are hoarding vegetables and food, and queues have formed at petrol stations. 18 lorries on the East-West Highway were burnt to cinders by the Maoists for defying their blockade.
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Highway hell
(December 2004) - external link
Nepali Times
Nothing to smile about
December 2004
King, politicians and Maoists fiddle while Nepal burns
PROSPECTS for peace to calm Nepal's nine-year-old Maoist rebellion look as bleak as ever. The government has set a deadline of January 13th for the Maoists to enter talks. If they refuse, it says it will step up its military campaign and-bizarre threat-hold an election. The Maoists, recognising that the "constitutional forces" (the monarchy and the political parties) are in disarray, have spurned the ultimatum. A bloodier phase looms in a conflict that has claimed more than 10,000 lives.
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Nothing to smile about
(December 2004) - external link
The
Economist
Teachers at the frontlines
December 2004
Dailekh's teachers have been on strike for two months to protest forcible recruitment by Maoists
When Maoists murdered Mukti Nath Adhikari, a respected social worker and teacher in Lamjung two years ago, the government that employed him, politicians and activists didn't speak out. A magazine cover printed a picture of him nailed to a tree like Jesus Christ and Adhikari became an icon of the fate of teachers in Nepal's Maoist war. Intimidated, tortured and killed by the Maoists and abandoned by their employers, the government. Adhikari's murder was also a reminder of just how brutal the Maoists had become. It is featured in Dhruba Basnet's film, Schools in the Crossfire being screened at the Kathmandu International Film Festival.
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Teachers at the frontlines
(December 2004) - external link
Nepali Times
Rebelling against rebels
December 2004
Dailekh's villagers fear for their lives
Returning to Dullu in Dailekh after last month's women-led revolt, it is clear anti-Maoist feelings are still running high.
The spontaneous outrage has spread even to outlying VDCs and the rebels have either been chased out or caught and handed over to the army. The Maoist western command in-charge, Diwakar, has been in damage-control mode after issuing a self-critical statement. But his district-level leaders have taken the uprising as an affront to their prestige and retaliated against unarmed civilians wherever they could.
In the latest incident on Sunday, a group of armed Maoists surrounded the village of Khadkawada, beat up locals and abducted four of the women leaders who had been leading the anti-Maoist movement. Earlier, on 7 December, when villagers had gathered at nearby Chhiudi to discuss the recovery of property that the rebels had looted, a local Maoist cadre threw a socket bomb at the group.
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Rebelling against rebels
(December 2004) - external link
Nepali Times
Dailekh's brave mothers
December 2004
Western Nepal remains cut off by landmined highways
Villagers this week cross a mud and boulder obstruction booby-trapped with bombs on the Gyang Khola Bridge along the East-West Highway.
It has been nearly three weeks: nothing moves west of Nepalganj. By blocking the main East-West Highway west of Kohalpur with barricades and bombs, the Maoists have brought western Nepal to a standstill.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected. Many people are crossing into India to travel to other parts of Nepal like they used to do 15 years ago. Nepal is a war zone.
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Blocked artery. "We couldn't take it anymore"
(December 2004) - external link
Nepali Times
Dailekh's brave mothers
November 2004
Woman did something the men never had the courage to do
"We don't need Prachandapath. You can't kill people anymore." These are the anti-Maoist slogans the people of Dailekh have been shouting for the last two weeks. Young and old, men and women, they protested openly against the rebels. Once sympathisers of the Maoists, they are now protesting spontaneously. Not too long ago, they had applauded and carried Maoist flags, but things have changed. The rebels didn't show fear when the Royal Nepali Army attacked their villages but now they have to hide from the rebellious public. They are facing the consequences of having taken the people for granted. It is time for them to acknowledge that the sickles of the mass are more powerful than the AK-47s of a few armed militants.
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Dailekh's brave mothers: We couldn't take it anymore
(November 2004) - external link
Nepali Times
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