Maoists in Nepal
The Origins of the Nepalese Maoist Insurgency
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Maoist Insurgency: Summary
Background of main causes of displacement
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Maoist Insurgency: Summary
In February 1996, the CPN-Maoist and its political wing, the Samyukta Jana Morcha, United People's Front, launched an armed insurgency, declaring a "People's War" in mid-western Nepal to overthrow the government and establish a republican communist state. An estimated 9,000 to 10,000 people have since died in the fighting, which has spread to all of Nepal's 75 districts and involved grave human rights abuses on both sides. The government has dealt with the insurgency as a law and order problem, using police rather than the army in counter-insurgency operations.

Throughout 1999 and early 2000 there were moves to grant the police special powers and establish paramilitary forces, though these stopped short of deploying the army.

By the end of 2001 the Maoist armed groups were believed to have been involved in violent incidents in nearly all of Nepal's 75 districts, increasing the security risk to civilians. Among the offences reported are forced disappearances, abductions, raids, destruction and looting of property, extortion and other acts of intimidation. The risk of violence and the collapse of services in the worst affected areas are said to have forced some families to flee to safer areas. Thousands of persons have been internally displaced.

The long-running conflict between the CPN-Maoist and the government forces became a human rights crisis in 2002, with hundreds of civilians killed and scores of police officials summarily executed. A State of Emergency was declared on 26 November 2001, following Maoist attacks on police and army barracks in Dang and Syangja districts, was extended on 25 February 2002 and again in May 2002. Political uncertainty added to the Government's rejection in July 2002 of an offer for peace talks, on the grounds that armed groups would have to disarm first, could prove a further threat to the security of the region. International food aid has been scaled back or completely suspended in some areas due to security concerns. Experts fear that Nepal may be moving towards one of the most serious food crises in South Asia.

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Background and main causes of displacement
The "People's War" was launched by the Maoists (CPN-M) in 1996 with the aim of overthrowing the constitutional monarchy and establishing a socialist republic. Despite the reinstatement of a multiparty democracy in 1990 and a new constitution, which followed three decades of panchayat (nonparty) system of government, Nepal's political order continued to be dominated by the same elite who demonstrated little inclination to improving the lives and livelihoods of the majority of the rural poor and largely failed to address the systemic inequality of Nepalese society.

The insurgency started in the districts of the mid-western region when Maoists began attacking the police, the main landowners, members of other political parties, teachers and local government officials. Forced to leave their land and property or threatened because of their association with the monarchist regime, many people targeted by the Maoists started moving to district headquarters where many chose to settle. Using guerrilla tactics and virtually unchallenged by the government during the first five years, the Maoists gradually gained ground in other districts of the country. It was not until the deployment of the army and the declaration of a state of emergency in late 2001 that the conflict escalated. By then, displacement had also started to affect other poorer strata of the population who fled fighting between the rebels and the army, forced recruitment into Maoist ranks and also the more general effects of war.

In many areas, the conflict led to the breakdown of education, closure of businesses, weakening of local economies and interruption of public services. Insecurity and blockades further reduced the availability of food and exacerbated a long-standing trend toward rural exodus (SAFHR, March 2005, p. 36). Particularly after November 2001, when security deteriorated markedly in rural areas, many people started fleeing to urban district centres, large cities like Kathmandu, Biratnagar and Nepalgunj, and across the border to India.

In 2001, Prince Gyanendra was crowned king after most of the royal family was killed in a bizarre shooting incident in the palace. A year later he suspended the elected Parliament, installed a prime minister of his choosing and indefinitely postponed elections, effectively assuming full executive powers with the support of the army. Although a seven-month ceasefire provided some respite in 2003, fullscale fighting soon resumed, even gaining in intensity, while the conflict rapidly spread to all 75 districts of the country. A pattern emerged, with the rebels more or less controlling the rural areas and the government's presence mainly restricted to district headquarters and urban centres. In a desperate effort to regain some control of the rural areas, the government started encouraging the creation of "village defence committees" in various districts of the country (ICG, 17 February 2004). Often created by local landlords with the tacit support of the army, these militias constituted an inflammatory development in the conflict.

In February 2005, an anti-Maoist rampage in Kapilvastu district resulted in the displacement of between 20,000 and 30,000 people to the Indian border (Bell, Thomas, 12 March 2005; BBC, 14 March 2005; Kathmandu Post, 19 March 2005). On 1 February 2005, the king dismissed the government and declared a state of emergency giving him absolute power and effectively suspending all civil liberties (AI, 15 June 2005, p. 4).

In the wake of the coup, fighting and subsequent human rights abuses increased significantly throughout the country. While the king gained less understanding for his coup from the international community than he had hoped for, he also miscalculated the repercussions at the domestic level. By the end of the year, the Maoists and the main political parties had reached a common understanding in the form of a 12-point agreement where they approved a common platform of action for ending the king's absolute rule and restoring sovereignty to the people through the reinstatement of Parliament, the formation of an allparty government and elections to a constituent assembly.

On 24 April 2006, following weeks of nationwide protests, the king ended his direct rule and reinstated parliament (IRIN, 25 April 2006). At the end of May, a new interim government and the Maoist leadership agreed on a 25-point Code of Conduct to end the conflict and pave the way for the election of a constituent assembly, whose task would be to draw up a new Constitution and lay down the foundation of a new political system to govern the country. Both sides met for a second round of formal peace talks in early October and agreed to hold elections for a constituent assembly by June 2007. No agreement was reached on the main bones of contentions, which include the future of the monarchy and the disarmament of the rebels (IRIN, 10 October 2006).

Credit: Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and Norwegian Refugee Council 2006

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Source: IDMC
Nepal: IDP return still a trickle despite ceasefire
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