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UN releases report on scores of Nepal war 'disappeared'
Agence France Presse - December 19, 2008
Kathmandu – The UN human rights body unveiled a list Friday of 170 people who "disappeared" during Nepal's bitter civil war, and cited witness testimony that some had died in military custody.
Nepal is now governed by former rebel Maoists who waged a guerrilla war for a decade until a 2006 peace deal that paved the way for their election victory earlier this year.
The UN Office for the High Commissioner for Human Rights said it had investigated reports of 156 people who were allegedly taken away by the security forces and 14 by the Maoists in Bardiya district, 400 kilometres (250 miles) southwest of Kathmandu.
"Under international law, Nepal has an obligation to fully investigate these allegations," said Richard Bennett, the UNHCR's country representative.
Nepal's government needs to "reveal the full truth about what happened to those individuals who were disappeared and bring to justice those responsible", Bennett said. The Nepalese military – seen as loyal to the monarch deposed by the Maoist-led government in May – has said that 39 of the 156 people who were taken had died in clashes with security forces or trying to escape.
But Bennett said his organisation had "credible witness testimony suggesting a number of detainees were killed in (military) custody".
The Maoists have confirmed that 12 of the 14 people they abducted were killed on suspicion of being government spies.
As part of the peace deal that ended the civil war in which 13,000 people were killed, Nepal's government passed a bill last month to investigate the fate of 1,200 people whose whereabouts remain unknown.
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