Even after a recent peace agreement between Nepal's government and Maoist rebels, the culture of violence that young Maoists have adopted over the years remains a major social and security challenge. The
agreement requires separation of arms and combatants, but many teenaged
rebels are unwilling to give up arms until utopian promises made by their
senior comrades come true.
The ceasefire between Nepal's government and the Maoist rebels appears to be encouraging fighters to get married - in dedicated Maoist style, of course. It is evening in the hills. The sweet smell of herbs fills the air and the shadows lengthen. In this small village, built on a hill, military men and women, mostly young, troop into a school. Some
wear camouflage fatigues, others garish T-shirts. Some carry rifles, others
are empty-handed.
In a large warehouse in the humid flatlands of western Nepal, portraits of Lenin, Stalin and Mao adorn the walls, with communist slogans and a picture of the Nepalese Maoist leader, Prachanda. Until recently this was a government cotton concern. Now it is used by the Maoists as a 'People's Court' to dispense justice. The Maoists regard their court system as the heart of their 'People's Government', running in parallel with the official government through much of the country. If current peace talks succeed, they may be asked to dismantle that government - but for the moment they are hanging on to it tenaciously. In
this court sit two judges and their clerks. On either side, on the floor,
two opposing families. And witnesses.
Four months into the ceasefire in Nepal, Maoist rebels and the army are preparing to be confined in camps under United Nations monitoring. The Maoists are refusing to disarm completely. Indeed, there are fresh reports of them abducting and even killing people in some places. But in other locations they are on a drive to win ordinary people's hearts and minds. They have also started building camps in their own favoured locations. One is a hilltop in the village of Muntang in the rugged hills of Palpa in western Nepal.
Pokhara FM has published interviews with CPN(M) leaders Prachanda, Prabhakar, Dr Baburam Bhattarai, as well as the General Secretary of CPN(UC-Masal), Mohan Bikram Singh.
The US has accused Maoist rebels in Nepal of continuing to kill people despite plans for them to join an interim government. The US says that the actions of the rebels are in mockery of a two-month-old ceasefire. Comments by the US ambassador in Nepal follow similar complaints from the UN. Ambassador James Moriarty's speech was the US government's first public comment on the events since the Maoists signed an accord with the government. Violence "Kidnappings, extortion, intimidation and murder are not tools for mainstream democratic political parties - which the Maoists claim they are becoming," said Mr Moriarty. The US ambassador praised Nepalese people for forcing a return to democracy through demonstrations in April.
Maoist
rebels will continue to bear arms
Maoist rebels in Nepal have said they will not lay down arms until elections are held for a body which will draw up a new constitution. A rebel spokesman said they were ready to demobilise their fighters but would not disarm them at the moment. His statement came a day after Nepal's home minister said the government would not share power with the rebels until they had given up their weapons. Both sides clinched a landmark power-sharing deal last week. Observers say both the government and rebels are committed to the peace process, but the issue of rebel arms could prove to be a major stumbling block. |
