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December 20, 2002
Eight Thousand
From Malaysiakini (and only part of the story is available for non-subscribers like me), Nepal bleeds by the thousands:
But what is different this year is the sheer volume of displaced people, and the fact that they are not seasonal migrants-many are not going to return until Nepal returns to normal. It is obvious that added up, there is a massive humanitarian crisis brewing here.The outflow of villagers from insurgency-hit mid-western districts has now reached a peak. Officials at the border police post at Nepalganj told us they counted more than 8,000 people passed through during the week Dec 4-11, the highest weekly figure that they have ever recorded.
And from The Independent, Nepal atrocities blamed on government and Maoists:
A grim picture of deaths in army custody, disappearances, torture and child guerrillas is painted in an Amnesty report on abuses during the civil war blighting the Himalayan kingdom of Nepal.The human rights group said yesterday it believed nearly half of the 4,366 people to die in the conflict over the past year may have been killed unlawfully. It found "unprecedented levels" of human rights abuses since November 2001, when talks collapsed between the Nepalese government and the Maoist guerrillas seeking to overthrow the monarchy and establish a Communist state.
The vast majority of the victims were civilians targeted "for their real or perceived support" for the Maoists, said the report. Others were "Maoists deliberately killed after they were taken prisoner or killed instead of being arrested." Amnesty International has recorded 66 "disappearances" – including six children – in the nine months to the end of August. Some of those who disappeared recently may still be alive and in the hands of the Nepalese army; others are feared to have been killed in custody and their bodies disposed of, said the 21-page report, Nepal: A Deepening Human Rights Crisis.
[. . .] Amnesty found abuses on both sides. It says Maoist forces killed an estimated 800 civilians considered "enemies of the revolution", with politicians and teachers a particular target. Amnesty accuses the guerrillas of torturing and murdering captives and taking hostages for ransom. The report says the Maoists regularly recruit children into their ranks, operating a policy of "one family, one member" in areas under their control. It says children are used in combat to help provide ammunition or evacuate wounded. Amnesty says it spoke to one 14-year-old girl who described children receiving weapons training at night after studying at school in the daytime.
Added a link to the report at Amnesty International's site, if you wanted to know more.
There's also a write-up at Nepalnews.com, again summarizing the AI report.
I have several theories about why this particular humanitarian crisis is pretty much ignored in the States, but none of them are very flattering to anyone.
Posted by Aaron at December 20, 2002 01:08 PM
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