Who are Nepal's Maoist rebels? War is bad for health Maoists in Rukum The western Terai is now a Maoist stronghold Nepal , one of the leading suppliers of troops to UN Maoists in Rolpa: Shushila Magar - Maoist Militia fighter

The rebels control large swathes of rural Nepal. Just when it seems that revolutionary communism has all but disappeared in the world, Nepal's Maoist rebels seem to grow stronger and stronger. It is estimated that they now have between 10,000 to 15,000 fighters, and are active across the country, with many parts completely under their control.

To understand how badly the conflict is affecting the health of Nepalis, a visit to this rudimentary 15-bed hospital, the only government-run facility in the remote district of Rukum in mid-western Nepal, is enough.
Inadequately-funded, understaffed and caught between the guerrillas and the soldiers, hospital staff struggle to do the best they can to cope with help from an international charity group. Some patients are direct victims of conflict, wounded by explosives or bullets, but thousands of others are indirectly affected by under-nourishment, a lack of vaccines and unsafe drinking water.

In the absence of government, the Maoists spread rapidly across the Terai. In six short years, the western Terai is now a Maoist stronghold. Just six km from Nepalganj in the town of Khajura, the Maoists held a three-hour mass meeting on the evening of 18 June. About 300 armed rebels dressed in combat fatigues marched openly down the streets of the town, barely a few minutes drive from the regional army headquarters.
From what could be seen in Khajura, Maoist morale is high and there is considerable support for charismatic commanders like Nanda Kishore Pun (Pasang) who led the Maoist raid on army bases in Beni in February and on Achham two years ago.

To the Maoists, though, fighting for a constitutional government minus the royalty, the US represents an evil force with "imperialist designs". That is why they don't want to see Nepal developing closer relations with Washington. Their anger against Americans has to be seen in the context of the State Department's decision to put the Maoists on a terrorist watch list. American wrath against Maoists accentuated after they shot dead two Nepali staff of the US embassy in Kathmandu. About 10,000 people have lost their lives since the Maoists launched their "people's war" in February 1996.

A British film crew followed a Maoist fighting unit in Nepal's midwestern Rolpa district in March 2004. One month later the Royal Nepal Army RNA claimed that it has flushed the Maoists out of their strongholds in Rolpa and Baglung districts.

Shushila Magar is 24 years old and a fighter with the Nepali Maoist Militia for the Ropal district. She can often be recognised by the red, yellow & green bandana she wears with a huge cannabis leaf insignia. At the age of 16, Shushila was arrested by the police on suspicion of being a Maoist sympathiser.

She was imprisoned for three days and constantly tortured. When she was released, she saw no alternative but to join the Maoists and embark on a struggle for the freedom of her people.