Will Nepal problems keep climbers away?

[nobody]

KATMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- More than 120 police and soldiers have been killed in a battle with Nepalese rebels.

The Maoist rebels seized the district headquarters of Mangalsen in the western district of Accham (about 450 km or 280 miles west of the capital, Katmandu), setting fire to government offices.

It was the biggest offensive launched by Maoist rebels since a state of emergency was declared in Nepal last November.

The rebels set fire to the district's government offices in the daring attack, which left at least 27 other police officers seriously injured, police officials said. According to information provided by security services, the rebels raided the district headquarters, Mangalsen, and an airstrip in nearby Sanfebagar at about midnight Sunday.

In the ensuing four-hour gun-battle, rebels destroyed an army barracks and a police station, torching many of the government office buildings in the town, a senior police officer said, on the condition of anonymity.

Authorities also said that district government's top administrator, as well as an intelligence officer and his wife, were gunned down by rebels.

At least 27 other police officers seriously injured in the violence, police officials said.

Authorities also said that scores of Maoist rebels are believed to have died in the fighting, but they could not put a number to it.

"We are still digging out the bodies from the rubble," a senior police officer said in Kathmandu.

A police official said the rebels attacked a jail housing Maoist inmates to release them, and raided a bank stealing 20 million rupees (about $300,000).

As the gun battle raged, authorities tried to rush in reinforcements by helicopter from Nepalgunj, a regional town on the southern plains, but were thwarted by rebel fire, police said.

Police sources said that about 45 policemen died defending the airstrip and the rest were killed in Mangalsen.

After several attempts, government choppers were finally able to land Sunday morning and recover the bodies of the dead policemen and soldiers, authorities said.

The attack comes five days ahead of a deadline by the government to decide whether it will renew the state of emergency.

The rebels, labeled as terrorists by the government, want to replace Nepal's constitutional monarchy and parliamentary democracy with a communist republic.

The government has repeatedly rejected those demands.

Since the rebel insurgency began in 1996 more than 2,000 people have been killed.

The government has had some success against the insurgents in urban areas since declaring the emergency.

The attack happened as Katmandu mobilizing its police and military to gain the upper hand in more remote regions of Nepal like Accham.

Critics of the state emergency saying it is diverting much needed funds from combating poverty that grips most of the Himalayan nation -- instead diverting them to security measures.

[wydrav13]

i was in nepal about 3 days before the state of emergency went into effect. after talking to many moist and non moist, i feel that nepal is safe for tourists, and climbers..however there are areas to be avoided...its all comes down to common sense ..use it when your there.

[Rodchester]

It would suck if these people ruin Nepal. Seems like they are pretty serious, and did a lot of damage.

I would seem odd if we took the "war on terrorism" to Nepal.

[allthumbs]

Wait until Pakistan and India start lobbing nukes at each other. Climbing in the area will be forever changed.

[ 02-17-2002: Message edited by: trask ]

[wydrav13]

the maoist never really seemd to be that bad, in a weird sense, they just hate there corrupt government, the police mainly, for harassing them, but if your whitey they leave you alone. but you still want to watch your back i saw abut 20 of them run through a town..they just looked at me and kept going they where mostly kids an girls with world war 1 rifles and knives. but ya it would be intersting if bush would try and bring these terrorist dowm, it would be like vietnam, you could never tell who was a moist, and youd be in the bush.

[mikeadam]

And being a climbing bum makes you such a military expert why?

[ 02-17-2002: Message edited by: mikeadam ]

[Fairweather]

Apparently these rebels are patterned after the "Shining Path" that plauged Peru for so many years. No doubt they will eventually see tourism (and therefore tourists) as a vital source of cash for the government which they feel oppresses them. Like Shining Path and the FARC in Columbia, they will eventually start abducting foreigners for ransom or political purposes.

I've also read suggestions that the People's Republic of China may be instigators here. Given their history in Tibet, that would be no big surprise.

Like Shining Path they will no doubt have to be met with govt' brutality at least as horrific as their own. In the process the Nepalese citizenry caught in the middle will probably end up screwed by both sides.

If history is any guide, this situation will get worse before it gets better.

[knatapow]

The situation in Nepal is a very tenuous one that I don't think any of us "experts" can truly evaluate. Even the Nepalese people are very in the dark or are being mis-lead about what is actually happening in their own country. I have lived in Nepal on and off since 1996 and things after 1996 were always dangerous, but only in very remote regions, far from us tourists. I had a couple of close calls but nothing to write home about. There are many theories on the 'maoists' and who supports them and their idealogy. One thing to remember is that the 'maoists' only make up a small portion of a dual sided party. The CPN-UML (communist party nepal-unified marxist leninist) is a legitimate party in Nepal with some serious grievences with the ruling aristocracy. The Nepalese government and royal family are some of the most corrupt in the world and continue to keep one of the poorest nations in the world poor, while the aristocary keep moving up the list. Rumor has it that the previous king of Nepal, in the early 90's was possibly the 5th richest man in the world!

As for us climbers- many regions are unsafe, but climbing is still very viable. Pay attention to hot zones and pick accordingly. Half-assed updates can be found at www.nepalnews.com