UN welcomes lifting of Maoist blockade

The United Nations on Monday welcomed a decision by the Communist Party of Nepal/Maoists (CPN/M) to lift a nationwide blockade, noting the impact it was having on local communities. “The UN welcomes this move which will relieve the suffering of ordinary Nepalese who are the ones bearing the brunt of such blockades,” acting UN Resident Coordinator for Nepal, Abraham Abraham, told IRIN in the capital Kathmandu. “We also hope that this will contribute to the resumption of a peace process in Nepal and the resumption of normalcy which ordinary Nepalese citizens desperately need.” His comments follow an agreement between Maoists and opposition political parties on Sunday to hold nationwide protests next month against King Gyanendra, who seized absolute control of the Himalayan kingdom in February 2005, citing the inability of successive governments to quell the Maoist insurgency. The rebellion has taken the lives of over 13,000 people since 1996. Maoist rebel leaders announced the end of the blockade and called off an indefinite 3 April general strike after they reached the new agreement with the major political parties to oppose Gyanendra's absolute rule. Much of the country had been crippled by the Maoist-imposed ban which began on 14 March and the UN had become increasingly concerned over the humanitarian impact it was having on Nepal’s 27 million inhabitants. According to local media reports over the weekend, the nationwide blockade had already resulted in price increases of essential goods, as well as fuel shortages in some areas, including the capital. On Saturday, the fourth day of the three-week long blockade, vegetable prices shot up by as much as 80 percent in the highly populated Kathmandu Valley, the Himalayan Times, an English daily, reported. “The blockade has affected the livelihood of the common people and hampered farmers’ business,” Chij Kumar Shrestha, the General Secretary of the Consumer’s Forum Nepal, a local independent consumer group, was quoted as saying. There were also reports of some people dying because they were unable to reach healthcare facilities due to the blockade - or were too afraid to seek assistance. At the same time, the blockade had left highways in many parts of the country virtually empty as drivers stayed off the roads in fear of rebel attacks. In the troubled southwestern border town of Nepalganj near India, fear drove residents to take to their bicycles, while in the western town of Pokhara, hundreds of cars and motorcycles lined up at petrol stations as authorities began rationing fuel there. Meanwhile, according to a statement by Maoists on Sunday, rebel leaders said they would support the 6-9 April general strike called by the seven major political parties. "There could be more agitation and protests in the future as the situation demands," the statement read. Additionally, the Maoists have appealed to the public, political activists and professionals such as lawyers and journalists, to close ranks in the struggle against the king, Reuters reported. Although both the rebels and the political opposition believe an interim government should be established to hold elections to a constitutional assembly that would draft a new constitution, they differ in their roadmaps. The political parties want to reinstate the dissolved parliament which will then form an interim government to hold elections to the constitutional assembly, while the Maoists want a broader political conference which will then form the interim government.