Category: Kathmandu

Kathmandu: Security forces on alert in Nepal 278 Reads

Thursday, March 22, 2007 - 05:17 AM

Thursday, March 22, 2007 · Last updated 1:15 a.m. PT

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Relatives of victims wait outside a hospital in Gaur, about 160 kilometers (100 miles) south of the Nepalese capital Katmandu, Wednesday, March 21, 2007. Security forces were on alert in southern Nepal Thursday after a fierce gunbattle between former communist rebels and ethnic rights activists left 26 dead and 35 wounded the day before, officials said. (AP Photo/Shiva Puri)
KATMANDU, Nepal -- Security forces were on alert in southern Nepal Thursday after a fierce gunbattle between former communist rebels and ethnic rights activists left 26 dead and 35 wounded the day before, officials said.

Home Ministry spokesman Baman Prasad Newpane said a curfew was imposed Wednesday in Gaur, about 100 miles south of the capital, Katmandu, after Maoist supporters clashed with members of the Madeshi People's Rights Forum.

A curfew also was imposed in Kalaiya town in neighboring Bara district, police official Madhu Pudasheni said.

On Wednesday, activists from both groups had gathered at the same spot in Gaur to hold separate rallies when arguments between them erupted over who had the right to use the land. Fighting quickly broke out and shots were fired.

Home Minister Krishna Sitaula and top officials were scheduled to fly to the area later on Thursday to investigate the incident, Newpane said.

A spokesman for the former guerrillas, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, said all those killed were Maoist activists.

"We did not provoke the violence. Armed activists from the Forum attacked our peaceful rally and killed our supporters," Mahara said.

Sitananda Raya of the Madeshi People's Rights Forum rejected the Maoist claim, saying they were the ones to came under attack from the ex-guerrillas.



"Maoists' activists began trouble by attacking our rally and it was the thousands of people who had gathered there who decided to retaliate," Raya said.

The Madeshi group is demanding greater autonomy, more seats in the national legislature and a guaranteed number of representatives from southern Nepal in the government. They allege the southern region has been sidelined in favor of the more populated mountainous areas in the north.

Violence has been increasing in southern Nepal, where the Madeshi group has staged strikes, transport shutdowns and demonstrations since January to demand greater rights for the people of the region. The protests have closed schools and markets, often resulting in clashes with angry residents.

Since the Madeshi group formed last year, it has competed with the Maoists for public support among southern Nepalese. However, there had been only small, sporadic skirmishes between the two groups.

Wednesday's fighting came as the Maoists, who signed a peace accord ending their decade-long insurgency last year, prepare to join an interim government. The Maoists have pledged to disarm, confining their fighters and weapons to U.N. monitored camps.

However, the former rebels have been accused of not fully honoring the peace agreement, keeping weapons outside the camps and pursuing illegal activities.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Nepal_Southern_Violence.html