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Reports on Maoists
SAT Tamil Tigers Training Nepalese Rebels (July 2005)
Kantipur Tales from Rolpa (July 2005)
Nepali Times: Mass murder in Madi (June 2005)
Asia Times Nepal's Maoists air their dirty laundry (May 2005)
BBC News Nepal's Maoist leadership divisions (May 2005)
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Nepal's Civil War
July 2005
Tamil Tigers Training Nepalese Rebels

An Interview Revealing All

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers as they are commonly known, are providing military training to the Maoist rebels of Nepal in Bihar near the Nepalese borders. Some French trainers have also been hired, a Maoist rebel leader revealed to the South Asia Tribune.

Talking to this correspondent in a recorded conversation, the Maoist rebel said the Tamil Tigers were helping in formation of human bomb squads for suicidal missions. Women and teenage boys and girls were being recruited for these squads. They also carry cyanide capsules with them. July 2005

Tales from Rolpa

A 10-day trek across the Maoist heartland

The first thing you notice as you enter Nuwagaon is the road. This little hamlet nestled in a deep valley just north off Holeri in Rolpa was once the end of an old road constructed by the government. Seven months ago, the Maoists decided to extend it from Nuwagaon all the way to Thawang, the village where the rebellion first began.

It was nearly sunset when we, a group of four journalists, reached Nuwagaon. We had ventured out into the Maoist heartland without any "permission" or information to either of the two warring sides. Our local guide had warned that travelling within the base areas without rebel permission could be dangerous. Worse, there was always the possibility that we could get caught in a crossfire. But we decided to risk it, and see for ourselves what the Maoist base areas looked like. June 2005

Potent insurgency

Maoists are financing their revolution with Himalayan viagra

The villages in this arid and remote district are all empty. No, it's not because of the Maoists. Every able-bodied person is up on the mountains collecting yarsagumba.

This unique Himalayan fungus that grows like a worm out of the soil after the snow melts is in high demand internationally. Called 'Himalayan viagra' for its alleged potency, prices have shot up as China becomes more affluent.

June 2005

Mass murder in Madi

Madi is a very close-knit community, it is isolated from the rest of the country by the national park and its regulations, we suffer flash floods and wild animals, we have learnt to look after each other," says Chaudhary, "every villager in Madi feels the pain of what happened to the bus because we are a special kind of community within Nepal."

In Chaudhary's list were: 'Woman, wife of Nirmal Sapkota', 'Child, son of Nirmal Sapkota'. I had flown with Nirmal Sapkota to Bharatpur from Kathmandu earlier that day. When we landed, he had headed straight to Bharatpur Hospital by riksa in search of his wife and son. He would have already learnt the terrible truth.

The soldiers on the bus were moving between the military posts of Baghai and Bankatta. For more than a year, the villagers had been warned by the Maoists not to allow this. It was impossible for the villagers to make such demands of the RNA and the rebels obviously did not care how many civilians died in order to get at a few soldiers. May 2005

Nepal's Maoists air their dirty laundry

Rumors of a rift in the top leadership of the Nepalese Maoists were confirmed last month when Maoist "supreme leader" Prachanda admitted to serious differences with his deputy and political ideologue, Dr Baburam Bhattarai. While the rift could undermine the strength of the Maoists, it could also prove problematic for the Nepalese government.

The rift between Prachanda - or the "fiery one" - and Bhattarai is not new. Rumors regarding differences between the two have swirled for years. But it was only in March this year that the division erupted into the open and was publicly acknowledged by the Maoist leaders. And this is the first time that the leaders are airing their differences in public.

Nine years have gone by since Nepal's Maoists launched their "people's war" to overthrow the monarchy and set up in its place a secular republic. The transformation of Nepal's Maoists from a rag-tag band of idealistic revolutionaries to battle-hardened insurgents in control of vast swathes of rural Nepal has been dramatic. Today, not only do they run parallel administrations in villages under their control, but they have also repeatedly signaled that a mere call from them for a general strike is enough to paralyze the capital, Kathmandu.

May 2005

Nepal's Maoist leadership divisions

It was widely perceived to be government propaganda. But now rumours of divisions within Nepal's Maoist rebel movement have more than a whiff of truth.

A power struggle between Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) Chairman Prachanda and an influential leader of the party, Baburam Bhattarai, has been hidden from the Maoist rank and file for many months but is now very much in the open.

Analysts say the rift could jeopardise what the rebels call the "people's war", which has claimed 11,000 lives in the last 10 years.

It seems that for some time no one but the two rebel leaders themselves realised the full extent of their bitter dogfight.

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