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In Nepal, impasse leaves Maoists in limbo

July 07, 2010 | The Washington Post
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Anju Rana, a former combatant for the Maoist party of Nepal, rests after a training session of the People's Liberation Army at the Maoist cantonment in Jyaltungdada camp in western Nepal.

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Members of the People's Liberation Army take part in physical training at the Jhyaltungdada camp in western Nepal. Following the peace agreement with the Nepali government in 2006, about 19,600 former Maoist combatants are waiting to be merged with the national security forces. Some military leaders say the rebels should be disbanded, disarmed and sent back to their villages, fearing that they could undermine the military and the country's fledgling democracy.

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The entrance to the fourth division headquarters of the People's Liberation Army in Jhyaltundada, Nepal. About 900 of the 19,600 Maoist combatants live in the camp. "We are trained to kill, make bombs and detonate bombs," one insurgent said. "Now you expect us to go back and plow the farms again?"

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Members of the People's Liberation Army rest after their morning training session at Jhyaltungdada cantonment in western Nepal.

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A member of the People's Liberation Army guards the entrance to the Maoist cantonment at Jhyaltungdada.

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Members of the People's Liberation Army exercise at the Jhyaltungdada camp. Since a 2006 peace agreement, Maoists and the ruling parties have been at an impasse -- including over drafting of a new post-monarchy constitution.

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"I'll join the national army if all of us are integrated together," said Maoist soldier Dandapani "Dabin" Bhattarai, 25. "But if they filter us and integrate individually, we will understand that their goal was to humiliate us after tricking us into signing the peace agreement."

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Members of the People's Liberation Army play soccer at the camp in Jhyaltungdada.

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Soldiers from the Nepal Army and members of the Nepal Police watch a national Republic Day celebration in Kathmandu. Both teams fought against the Maoists during the decade-long insurgency in which at least 12,500 people died.

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Soldiers from the Nepal Army and members of the Nepal Police watch a national Republic Day celebration in Kathmandu. Both teams fought against the Maoists during the decade-long insurgency in which at least 12,500 people died.

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A soldier from the Nepal Army stands guard during the national Republic Day celebration in Kathmandu. The army fought against the Maoist during the decade-long insurgency and is now hesitant to integrate the former Maoist combatants en masse.

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Soldiers from the Nepal Army. "If the Maoists and the ruling parties don't move on integration, constitutional issues and power sharing, we will only be postponing the crisis," said Prashant Jha, a political analyst based in Kathmandu.

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A member of Nepal Army stands guard during the national Republic Day celebration in Kathmandu. Army officials say that they don't oppose the integration process as a whole but that they cannot recruit politically indoctrinated Maoists.

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Officers of the Nepal Army watch the parade and cultural program during the national Republic Day ceremony in Nepal.

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A member of the Nepal Army.

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Maoist supporters participate in a mass protest in Kathmandu demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal. The prime minister resigned last week.

A heated debate between Nepal's government and the Maoists over how to integrate thousands of former rebels into the national forces has brought the Himalayan nation to a standstill.