Nepal rebel chief to make rare visit to India

KATHMANDU, Nov 2 (Reuters) The secretive chief of Nepal's Maoist insurgents will this month make his first high profile foreign visit since coming out of hiding in June when he travels to India to speak at a leadership conference, rebels said today.

Maoist chief Prachanda, whose assumed name means Awesome or Terrible, had been invited to speak at the conference, organised by an Indian newspaper, alongside prominent leaders, businessmen and entertainers from India and abroad, they said.

The conference is scheduled to be held in New Delhi on November 17 and 18.

Among those scheduled to speak there are Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, British cabinet minister Jack Straw, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Indian film maker Karan Johar.

''No other programme has been fixed so far,'' Dev Gurung, a senior Maoist leader, told Reuters referring to Prachanda's schedule in the Indian capital. ''But it is possible that he may meet some Indian leaders during the visit.'' Indian officials said they had no information about any meetings yet.

New Delhi played a key role in defusing the turmoil in Nepal in April triggered after political parties and the rebels joined hands and launched violent street protests against the absolute rule of King Gyanendra.

The demonstrations led to the monarch stepping down and handing power to a multi-party government.

Some of Nepal's Maoist leaders, who have been fighting against the monarchy since 1996, are known to have secretly travelled to or lived in India in the past.

Prachanda himself went across to an Indian border town for a brief private visit after coming out of more than a decade of hiding in June this year.

Earlier this week, Prachanda met with Indian Ambassador Shiv Shankar Mukherjee to discuss the peace process in Nepal and urged him to get New Delhi to release two senior rebel leaders jailed in India.

Prachanda has led his 35,000-strong guerrilla army against the monarchy for more than a decade -- a revolt that killed more than 13,000 people.

The rebels agreed to a ceasefire and joined peace talks with the government after King Gyanendra stepped down. The talks have made slow progress due to differences over disarming the rebel army and the future of the monarchy.

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