Nepal rebels attack town as curfew imposed for fifth day
Nepalese security forces fought back a communist rebel attack today, as foreign diplomats sought to halt the country’s political crisis and officials placed the capital, Kathmandu under curfew for the fifth day due to anti-monarchy protests.
The diplomats, meanwhile, were reaching out to both sides – the royal palace and pro-democracy opposition parties – in hopes of finding a way out of the stalemate, one diplomat said.
The diplomat gave few details, but said a resolution is becoming increasingly urgent as the country veers closer to chaos.
Meanwhile, a Defence Ministry statement said five Maoist rebels and a government soldier died after the communist rebels attacked security bases and governmnt buildings overnight in the north-central town of Chautara, sparking gunbattles that lasted until this morning.
The statement, from a ministry spokesman Indiresh Dahal, said the army flew four civilians, injured in the attack in the remote mountain town, to a hospital in Kathmandu.
The attackers knocked down an antenna tower, severing the town’s communications, and raided an area army base, police post, district administration office and jail, Dahal said.
He said the rebels also bombed the local hospital, post office and education office, and that soldiers were searching for the attackers.
The Maoists have seized control of much of Nepal’s countryside in a 10-year anti-monarchist insurgency that has killed about 13,000 people.
Protests have rocked Kathmandu for the past three weeks, and police have clashed repeatedly with demonstrators demanding King Gyanendra relinquish the absolute power he seized 14 months ago. The communist rebels and Nepal’s main political parties are both backing the demonstrations.
Local news reports said protests were held in dozens of towns and cities across the country. About 10,000 protesters, including many government workers, marched through the western resort town of Pokhara.
Protesters shut down a number of major roads, blocking them with trees and burning tires, the reports said.
The US State Department today ordered all non-emergency embassy staff and family members to leave Nepal, according to an embassy spokesman, Robert Hugins. He said about half of the mission’s staff would leave.
Ambassador James Moriarty also recommended that all Americans in Nepal should consider leaving “because of the uncertain security conditions,” an embassy statement said.
China and Australia have warned people against travelling to the kingdom.
Also today, police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at a protesters marching along the northern edge of the city’s Ring Road. At least seven were injured, independent Kantipur radio reported.
The road circles the capital and is outside the zone of the city’s 11 am-6pm curfew. It was not clear why police decided to stop the demonstration.
Opposition parties said they expected hundreds of thousands at tomorrow’s protests, set to start from several points along the Ring Road.
Today, activists prepared for the mass gathering.
“We are going door-to-door informing people of the programme so they will be ready,” said Nepali Congress Party activist Pradeep Dhakal.
The office of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Nepal issued a statement today urging demonstrators to remain peaceful, and for security forces to respect protesters’ rights.
In Geneva, a UN rights official said Nepal should end its “shoot-on-sight” policy for curfew breakers.
“The government is, in effect, instructing its forces to shoot innocent people,” said Philip Alston, the United Nations’ special investigator on illegal and arbitrary executions.
Security forces have killed at least 14 protesters since the strike began. There is no known case of curfew-breakers being shot when they were not at protests.
Police and protesters clashed on the Ring Road on Sunday, leaving several demonstrators injured.
On Saturday, nearly 250 people were wounded in clashes with security forces there and in the centre of Kathmandu. Some of those protesters got within a half-mile of the royal palace.
The protests have intensified since Friday, when Gyanendra offered to let the seven-party opposition alliance nominate a prime minister and form a government.
Opposition leaders and the communist rebels say the king’s offer fell short of a key demand – the return of Parliament and creation of a special assembly to write a new constitution that could limit or eliminate the monarchy.
