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| Southeast Asia |
| Gov’t Soldiers Kill 17 Rebels in Nepal |
| 2003-08-18 |
| Not sure where Nepal news goes in the headers. NEPALGUNJ, Nepal (AP) - Government soldiers killed 17 rebels in a gunbattle, even as the two sides were engaged in peace talks to end a seven-year insurgency in Nepal, officials said Monday. The soldiers were patrolling Sunday near the village of Doramba, 75 miles east of Katmandu, when they were fired on by the rebels, the defense ministry said in a statement. The guerrillas were killed in a gunbattle that followed, it said. No army casualties were reported. Sounds like the rebels got their training at Hek’s School of Grenade Throwing. Soldiers recovered guns, ammunition and explosives from the site, the statement said. The details and identities of those killed could not be independently confirmed. The rebels, who say they’re inspired by Chinese communist revolutionary Word of the killings came just hours after government ministers Kamal Thapa and Prakash Chandra Lohani flew Monday to the rebel stronghold of Hapure, 250 miles west of Katmandu, and met guerrilla leaders for 90 minutes. The two ministers arrived eight hours late for the talks at the rebel stronghold, as monsoon rains delayed their flight. On Tuesday, both sides were scheduled to discuss a rebel demand for a new constitution, Thapa told reporters after returning to Nepalgunj, where the talks began on Sunday. Thapa also said the government handed over a list of 233 people allegedly abducted by the rebels in the past few months and asked for their release or their whereabouts. Rebel negotiators are demanding a special elected assembly that would draft a new constitution. They also want the assembly to decide if the king should continue as a constitutional monarch - or if the country should be turned into a communist state. There’s a great choice: "you must choose between a benign, mildly corrupt monarchy that will leave you alone or a communist state that will march you into the wilderness and make you a subsistence farmer prior to killing you." Hmmm, what to do, what to do ... The government has said it would not compromise or negotiate on the issue of Nepal’s multiparty democracy and constitutional monarchy but was ready to make changes on everything else. Wrong tactic. Tell ’em to piss up a rope and get the army trained and equipped to deal with them. |
| Posted by:Steve White |