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Nepal sacks, demotes soldiers over rights abuses
Agence France Presse - December 18, 2008
Kathmandu – Nepal's army announced Thursday it had sacked or demoted 175 soldiers over allegations they were involved in human rights abuses during the country's civil war.
The purge is the biggest announced by the army – seen as a bastion of the country's former ruling elite – over abuses linked to its decade-long war with Maoist rebels. The Maoists now run the country after signing a peace deal in 2006 and winning elections earlier this year.
"We received allegations of abuses over the due course of time," army spokesman Brigadier General Ramindra Chhetri told AFP, without giving details of the cases.
"Some of the 175 had been discharged from the army and others had been demoted," the spokesman said, adding those who were still serving had been barred from taking part in United Nations peacekeeping missions.
Another senior army official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to talk to the media, said those punished included "people ranging from low ranking soldiers to colonels".
"The action was taken to show that we are committed to upholding human rights and to send a message that there is no impunity in the army," said the official.
The announcement came ahead of the expected release of a United Nations report into the cases of around 200 suspected Maoists in one district in southern Nepal who were taken by the army between 2001 and 2003 and never heard from again. The report will detail the systematic torture and secret killings of the suspected Maoists, the youngest of whom was a 14-year-old boy, sources say.
As part of the 2006 peace deal that ended the decade-long war, the Maoist-run government is to set up a truth and reconciliation committee to investigate serious human rights abuses.
The Maoists were also accused of grave abuses during the civil war. The conflict left at least 13,000 people dead and hundreds more disappeared.
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