Landmines Being Defused Nationwide: Poudel

 The government has started the work of identifying, mapping, fencing and marking landmines in different parts of the country, planted during the decade-long insurgency, said Ram Chandra Poudel, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction, on Wednesday.

The government had formed a directional and technical committee under the coordination of Poudel on June 21 to start mine action works. Poudel, speaking at a National Conference on Landmines organised by Ban Landmines Campaign Nepal (NCBL), said the committee has started identifying, defusing and excavating the landmines.

He also urged the Nepali army, Maoists, experts and related organisations to help in the committee's work to minimise the probable death and destruction due to the landmines in the future.

Purna Shova Chirakar, coordinator of the NCBL, said over 26,000 people have been handicapped due to the landmines and almost 14,00 have lost their lives in the last 12 years. She accused the government and the political parties of lacking dedication to tackle the risk posed by landmines.

In the peace accord signed on November 22, 2006, the government and the Maoists had expressed commitment to assist each other to mark the landmines by providing necessary information within 30 days and de-fuse and excavate them within 60 days. But the commitment is yet to be implemented.

United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Matthew Kahane said there is an urgent need to destroy the landmines. He added that the government should address the problems of those injured and handicapped by the landmines.

Tamrat Samuel, deputy special representative of the Secretary General, called for the formulation of a mine action policy. He also called for the protection of rights of those injured and handicapped by the landmines.

Sunita Ghale, who lost her right leg and Krishna Bahadur Ghising, whose lower body has been paralysed due to a landmine explosion, accused the government of showing indifference to their plight. "We have been finding it difficult to continue medications and fend for the family and children," they said and urged the government to support them. It takes $3 to $10 to produce a landmine, while it takes anywhere between $200 and 1,000 to destroy it, according to the NCBL

Nepal flood victims need help

From: http://www.iol.co.za/general/news/newsprint.php?art_id=nw20070808185640579C214427

The Red Cross appealed on Wednesday for nearly $2-million (about R14-million) to help more than 20 000 families in Nepal affected by severe flooding after torrential monsoon rains pounded South Asia.

The appeal for $1,9-million dollars followed similar calls for emergency funding for flood victims in Bangladesh and Pakistan by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

"The hardest hit communities need to receive food, clean water, and access to sanitation facilities," the secretary general of the Nepal Red Cross Society, Dev Ratna Dhakhwa, said.

The Nepal Red Cross said that more than 21 500 families, or around 127 000 people, have been displaced by the floods and landslides. It also estimated that a total of more than 330 000 Nepalese have been affected so far.

In the worst-hit districts, vast areas of crops have been decimated, and several roads and bridges have been washed away, while 26 500 houses have been damaged or destroyed.

While the Nepalese arm of the Red Cross has been leading the charge to help distribute relief, the government, other aid organisations and UN agencies have stepped in to help.

Around 30 000 families in the 33 affected districts have received rice, noodles, salt and sugar, as well as first aid care. Volunteers have also given plastic sheets, cooking utensils and blankets to more than 3 000 families.

Two separate appeals were launched in July to help Bangladesh and Pakistan.

A call for $703 400 was issued to help support flood-affected people in Bangladesh, but conditions in the south Asian country remain dire as millions of people are in urgent need of food, safe drinking water, clothing and shelter.

The Red Cross has made plans to scale up its operations.

"Though flood levels are receding in some areas of India and Nepal, Bangladesh's rivers continue to overflow as water pours down from swollen rivers to the north," said Nina Nobel, the international federation's regional representative for South Asia.

Relief and recovery efforts are also continuing in south-west Pakistan, where similar torrential rains and suffocating temperatures created a miserable situation for about 2,5 million people in June, according to the agency.

"Conditions are worsening again in Pakistan," she added.

"The situation remains highly unstable throughout the region, and with more monsoon rains to come, things could still worsen," said Nobel.
Regards:
Ekendra Lamsal
mail@EkendraLamsal.com

Nepal editors say Maoists targeting media freedom

A NEWS story from reuters.com

 

A group of leading editors in Nepal have accused Maoists, who are now part of the interim government, of attacking press freedom through a "sinister pattern of intimidation and threats".

Ten editors of leading newspapers, magazines and a television station said that Maoist unions, demanding better conditions for workers, had even entered newspaper offices to physically threaten journalists.

Their statement, issued late on Wednesday, comes days after a Maoist-affiliated labour union obstructed the publication and distribution of the Himalayan Times and the Annapurna Post, leading dailies published in the capital Kathmandu.

"We didn't have such a serious attack on press freedom even during the direct censorship of media after the king's coup in Feb. 2005," the statement said.

Nepal's King Gyanendra sacked the government in 2005, jailed politicians and gagged the media saying he was acting to crush an anti-monarchy Maoist insurgency.

But weeks of street protests organised by mainstream political parties and supported by the Maoists forced him to end his absolute rule and restore democracy last year.

In November, the Maoists signed a peace deal with the new government and joined a multi-party cabinet ending their decade-long civil war which killed more than 13,000 people.

"We ask that the Maoist leadership ... honour its stated commitment to protect press freedom and not to incite attacks on the media," the editors said.

The Maoist labour groups, which have also disrupted the production of other newspapers and a radio station in recent weeks, say they want better pay and service conditions for their workers in the media.

Shalikram Jamakattel, chief of a Maoist labour group, called for better rights for workers and promised the intimidation would end without disturbing the media.

MPs Concerned About Maoists' Violent Acts

Members of Parliament (MPs) today expressed concern about the Maoists' violent activities and said it might be a ploy to defer constituent assembly elections slated for November 22.
Maoist MPs, however, said the political parties were trying to defame their party.
MP Harihar Dahal of the Nepali Congress (NC) sought a remedy to the problem created by the Maoist party cadres. "We have a solution if the king obstructs the elections. But what if Maoist cadres obstruct constituent assembly elections?" he said, while drawing the attention of the Speaker during the special session of the Parliament today.
He said loktantra was not synonymous with coercion or intimidation. "How can we expect the polls to be fair and free in such a situation?" he queried.
Ganga Narayan Shrestha, a Maoist MP, criticised the government for holding dialogue with the "criminals" of the March 27 Gaur incident, where 27 Maoist cadres were killed by cadres of the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (MJF).
MP Chitra Bahadur KC of the Janamorcha Nepal criticised the Maoists for having double standards. "How do we expect peace and stability when the party, which is in the government creates troubles?" he asked.
He, however, said that all the eight parties should take the moral responsibility if the government fails to hold constituent assembly in the scheduled date.
Maoist MP Hit Bahadur Tamang defended the Dolakha incident, saying that the whole episode erupted after the government authorities in the district tried to protect a supporter of monarchy.