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| Sunday, 14 August 2005 |
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Nepal Maoists pledge humane treatment of soldiers Aug 13 (AFP) - A UN official said Friday Nepal's Maoist rebels had promised him they would treat humanely dozens of soldiers captured in a deadly clash with security forces last weekend. The army, meanwhile, reiterated its claim that the insurgents had mistreated and killed captured troops after Sunday's major gun battle at Pili in the western area of Kalikot. Maoist chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, has branded as "baseless" charges rebels had executed 40 troops and said the captives would be freed "at an appropriate time". Ian Martin, the representative of the UN High Commission for Human Rights in Nepal, said he had held informal talks with unidentified Maoist leaders in the southwest of the Himalayan kingdom earlier this week. He said the rebel leaders to whom he spoke "gave me assurances of not harming the army men in their custody and releasing them", but he added: "I cannot fully rely on the Maoist assurances". Human rights groups regularly accuse both the guerrillas - who have been fighting for almost a decade to overthrow the monarchy - and government forces of human rights abuses. Martin's comments to reporters in Kathmandu came after the rebels said earlier Friday they had captured eight more soldiers, bringing the total they were holding to 60, as the army battled monsoons while searching for the men. The eight soldiers had been caught Tuesday in the same remote western area where Sunday's clash took place, a faxed Maoist statement said. "Now we have 60 soldiers in our captivity," said the statement, which added that the troops "are being treated in a humane manner". Army spokesman Deepak Gurung later Friday said at least 43 soldiers and one civilian contractor had been killed last Sunday, while 75 security personnel remained missing. |
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