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Blasts rock Nepal hours after rebel ceasefire ends

Posted on: Tuesday, 3 January 2006, 06:46 CST

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - A series of overnight blasts rocked Nepal with one erupting in the popular tourist town of Pokhara, just hours after Maoist rebels called off a four-month truce, raising fears of a resurgence of violence.

No one was hurt in the blasts in Pokhara, in central Nepal, or the western towns of Butwal and Bhairahawa shortly after the unilateral ceasefire ended at midnight on Monday.

In its first reaction to the end of the truce, Nepal's royalist government said it stood ready to protect the country.

"It is unfortunate. The state is prepared for any eventuality," junior Information Minister Shris Shumsher Rana told Reuters. "We are ever vigilant."

The explosions raised fears of a major resumption of violence across the troubled Himalayan kingdom if the rebels step up their attacks.

The United Nations expressed its concern over the prospect of an escalation in fighting.

It said it regretted that many appeals from the people of Nepal and the international community for an extension of the truce had not been heeded.

"The United Nations urges both parties to the conflict to exercise restraint, to respect fully their obligations under international humanitarian law, and to take appropriate measures to establish a mutual ceasefire," it said in a statement.

The Maoists first declared a three-month truce in September, but later extended it for another month under popular pressure.

TALKS URGED

On Monday, Prachanda, the elusive rebel leader, said the ceasefire would not be prolonged further and accused government troops of provoking his forces to break it.

The loyalist government of King Gyanendra, who fired a previous government and seized power in February, had refused to respect the truce, saying the Maoists could not be trusted.

As the ceasefire ended, local media reported that the rebels, who have a strong presence across much of the countryside, were planning to attack the heavily defended capital, Kathmandu.

Commentators and ordinary Nepalese called for talks to try to end the fighting that has raged for a decade. More than 12,500 people have died in the rebel insurgency that aims to topple the monarchy and establish one-party communist rule.

The violence has delayed parliamentary and local elections and wrecked the economy of the aid-dependent nation.

"The government must take the initiative for talks between the king, political parties and the Maoists," said Nepal Samacharpatra, a local newspaper.

Sunita Chamling, a housewife in Kathmandu, said the government should have matched the Maoist truce.

"Peace had a chance under the ceasefire. Therefore, the government should have responded to the Maoists," she said.

Security has been stepped up across the mountainous country.

"Soldiers are patrolling the streets and there is fear in the minds of people," journalist J. Pandey said from the western town of Nepalgunj, a Maoist stronghold.

King Gyanendra has called for elections to 58 municipal councils to be held on Feb 8. But the Maoists have pledged to derail the polls and the seven main political parties, pressing the king to restore democracy, have announced a boycott.

Source: REUTERS

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