Rebels accused of failing to adhere to peace process

Nepal’s fledgling peace process to end the conflict between Maoist rebels and the government, is fraught with challenges, political leaders and analysts have said. “We are really worried because the Maoist leaders have failed to implement their commitments as agreed. We need a positive political environment, especially now,” said Sushil Koirala, a veteran leader of the Nepali Congress (NC), one the country’s largest parties. “The local Maoist cadres are still threatening our party members in the villages and bullying them constantly,” said Pradeep Nepal, senior leader of the Unified Marxist-Leninists (UML), another key national party in Nepal. He added that the Maoists had still not provided evidence that they had returned property taken from villagers, whose houses and farms were seized by the rebels. But Man Kumari Ghimire of Nepal's All Women’s Maoist Organisation denied the rebels were hampering access to rural communities. “We’ve never seen the parties come to the villages, but they are welcome if they work in favour of the poor people.” The rebels are being accused of violating many of the agreements reached during a first round of peace talks. According to the UML, Maoist leaders have been openly criticising the political parties during mass rallies, in violation of the arrangements made to boost confidence between both sides. The Maoists, who had been waging an armed rebellion for 10 years, have been actively involved in the peace process since a new interim government was formed by the seven leading parties in April. This followed 19 days of national protests designed to pressure Nepalese monarch King Gyanendra into relinquishing absolute power. The US meanwhile has accused the Maoists of continuing to kill people despite their participation in the peace process. "Kidnappings, extortion, intimidation and murder are not tools for mainstream democratic political parties - which the Maoists claim they are becoming," said US Ambassador to Nepal, James Moriarty, on Wednesday. “The friction between the seven parties and the Maoists is becoming an increasing concern and there is really a strong need to build up trust and confidence between both sides,” said Malla Sundar, a member of the Ceasefire and Code of Conduct National Monitoring Committee. The committee consists of 35 independent professionals and was formed on 15 June after the first round of talks to monitor how both sides were adhering to the peace agreements. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal on Tuesday urged the guerrillas to investigate claims of serious human rights abuses carried out by its cadres in which nine people were killed after the three-month ceasefire was declared in the last week of April. The framing of an interim constitution started on Monday and the document should be finalised in 15 days, according to Laxman Prasad Aryal, a former judge who is heading the committee working on the new constitution. Nepal's armed forces have been regularly accused of indiscriminate killings and a wide range of human rights abuses.