Nepal Deploys More Troops in Maoist Uprising

A state of emergency in this Himalayan nation is directed at Maoist guerrillas fighting to overthrow the constitutional monarchy, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said Sunday, as more troops were deployed to quell the uprising.

“I want to assure you the emergency is directed only against the terrorists, their supporters and agencies,” Deuba told reporters. “Others have nothing to fear.”

Nepal ordered a state of emergency and called in troops last week after the Maoist guerrillas broke a four-month truce and attacked security forces in the west and east.

The rebels are fighting to replace the kingdom’s constitutional monarchy with a Communist republic.

Deuba said the army, deployed against the guerrillas for the first time since the rebellion began in 1996, had carried out successful operations against the rebels.

“Things are changing, the situation is improving,” he said, but he gave no details. He said he could not give a time frame for the operations or say how long the state of emergency would last.

But Deuba said a summit of the South Asian Assn. for Regional Cooperation, or SAARC, would be held as scheduled in Katmandu in early January despite the state of emergency.

SAARC has been in limbo for three years because of tensions between India and Pakistan, but the leaders of the two nuclear powers have confirmed plans to attend.

The embattled government sought support from retired soldiers to help combat the guerrillas.

Nepal’s army of more than 45,000 includes Gurkha soldiers, famed for their fighting skills, but they have never fought a guerrilla war at home.

“The Ministry of Defense urges ex-servicemen of the Royal Nepal Army, retired Indian and British Gurkha soldiers for support to the government’s efforts to maintain peace and security in the country,” the ministry said Sunday.

It said troops fired from a helicopter at rebels in a jungle in eastern Nepal, inflicting heavy casualties. Soldiers also recovered weapons and explosives that rebels had looted from an army post last week.