A heavily guarded convoy of six buses snaked its way out of Nepal's capital yesterday, the first vehicles to defy Maoist rebels who blockaded Kathmandu this week with threats alone and without setting up a single roadblock.
But the risk of attacks by the insurgents kept other vehicles off the roads, and police said no cars or delivery trucks have entered the capital since Wednesday's start of the blockade, called by the rebels to demand that the government release jailed comrades.
The blockade has left the capital with only a few days' worth of fresh produce and cooking fuel, officials have said.
However, the city has enough food staples such as rice and flour to last about a month, commerce ministry official Dinesh Pyakurel said.
Even with dozens of soldiers in trucks guarding the convoy of six buses, many would-be travelers were too scared to use them and only about 50 passengers headed off for various destinations in Nepal's southwest.
In the past, rebels have burned dozens of vehicles and planted mines to reinforce blockades, and early this week they threw a bomb at a luxury hotel for disregarding an order to shut down. "We have doubled the number of patrols and mobilized troops all over the highway. Security forces are on high alert all across the nation," Home Ministry official Anantraj Pandey said.
Army officials said they have offered to escort supply trucks to bring food into the city, but truck owners have refused to work.
People in Kathmandu were mostly calm and store owners reported no panic buying. Many civilians said they expected the rebels to drop the blockade after a few days.
The rebels -- inspired by Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) -- have been fighting since 1996 to replace Nepal's monarchy with a communist state. More than 9,500 people have died in the war, most of them in rural areas far from the capital.
The guerrillas have struck Kathmandu before, planting bombs under buses and motorcycles to enforce strikes or inspiring students to shut down schools. But this week's blockade was unusual because it was succeeding simply on fear.
There were no reports of rebels setting up barricades on any roads, and police officers said they had seen no guerrillas. But the insurgents were believed to be watching the roads, which were empty except for military and police vehicles.
Other than planes, which are too expensive for most in this impoverished nation, roads are the only way to travel in the Kathmandu Valley, and its 1.5 million people depend on trucks to bring fuel, food and other goods.
The rebels sent a notice to newspapers last week saying that beginning Wednesday they would impose the blockade for an indefinite period to pressure the government to free jailed guerrillas and provide information on others who are missing. They threatened to attack any vehicles traveling on the highways.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba's government has made no public comment on the demands.
Authorities refuse to say how many rebels are being detained. Nepalese law allows soldiers to detain people suspected of being rebels for 90 days without charge.
Four contenders are squaring up to succeed Antonio Guterres as secretary-general of the UN, which faces unprecedented global instability, wars and its own crushing budget crisis. Chile’s Michelle Bachelet, Argentina’s Rafael Grossi, Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan and Senegal’s Macky Sall are each to face grillings by 193 member states and non-governmental organizations for three hours today and tomorrow. It is only the second time the UN has held a public question-and-answer, a format created in 2016 to boost transparency. Ultimately the five permanent members of the UN’s top body, the Security Council, hold the power, wielding vetoes over who leads the
A humanoid robot that won a half-marathon race for robots in Beijing on Sunday ran faster than the human world record in a show of China’s technological leaps. The winner from Honor, a Chinese smartphone maker, completed the 21km race in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, said a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area, also known as Beijing E-Town, where the race began. That was faster than the human world record holder, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo, who finished the same distance in about 57 minutes in March at the Lisbon road race. The performance by the robot marked a significant step forward
An earthquake registering a preliminary magnitude of 7.7 off northern Japan on Monday prompted a short-lived tsunami alert and the advisory of a higher risk of a possible mega-quake for coastal areas there. The Cabinet Office and the Japan Meteorological Agency said there was a 1% chance for a mega-quake, compared to a 0.1% chance during normal times, in the next week or so following the powerful quake near the Chishima and Japan trenches. Officials said the advisory was not a quake prediction but urged residents in 182 towns along the northeastern coasts to raise their preparedness while continuing their daily lives. Prime
HAZARDOUS CONDITION: The typhoon’s sheer size, with winds extending 443km from its center, slowed down the ability of responders to help communities, an official said The US Coast Guard was searching for six people after losing contact with their disabled boat off the coast of Guam following Typhoon Sinlaku. The crew of the 44m dry cargo vessel, the US-registered Mariana, on Wednesday notified the coast guard that the boat had lost its starboard engine and needed assistance, Petty Officer 3rd Class Avery Tibbets said yesterday. The coast guard set up a one-hour communication schedule with the vessel, but lost contact on Thursday. A Coast Guard HC-130 Hercules aircraft was launched to search for the six people on board, but it had to return to Guam because of
RSS