Nepal's Maoist rebel chief makes rare home visit

KATHMANDU, Oct 19 (Reuters) Nepal's Maoist rebel chief had an emotional meeting with his family today when he made a brief visit to his ancestral home for the first time in more than a decade, his father said.

Pushpa Kamal Dahal -- better known by his nom de guerre, Prachanda meaning ''terrible'' in Nepali -- met his 77-year-old father and other family members during a stopover at his home Bharatpur, a riverside town 150 km (95 miles) southwest of Kathmandu.

The elusive Prachanda has led his 35,000 guerrilla force in a decade-old war against Nepal's monarchy with the aim of setting up a communist state. More than 13,000 people have been killed in the rebellion which began in 1996.

''I was half confused and half happy,'' his father Muktiram Dahal told Reuters by phone from Bharatpur. ''I embraced him and shook hands. I could neither weep nor laugh.'' The last time the 52-year-old rebel leader met his father was at a rebel rally in May this year.

Prachanda is the eldest of eight children and comes from a middle-class family who make their living from cultivating rice paddy, maize and wheat.

The agriculture graduate and former school teacher formed his rebel movement, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), in the mid 1990's and left home to start a revolt from the remote villages in west Nepal from where he drew recruits for his movement.

A peace process began in May, a month after Nepal's King Gyanendra ended his absolute rule and handed power to political parties as a result of weeks of protests, which were supported by Maoists rebels.

Reuters PB GC1950