Nepal rebels collect in camps on eve of peace deal

DASHARATHPUR, Nepal, Nov 19 (Reuters) After drilling his troops beneath the trees in the foothills of Nepal's Himalayas, vice-commander ''M Star'' congratulated them on a job well done.

''We have been fighting for a long time to destroy the old regime, supported by the old army, and in this great class struggle, we have been successful so far,'' he said.

The men and women under his command, dressed in camouflaged combat fatigues, most carrying old-fashioned bolt-action rifles, greeted his words with the raised fist of the Maoist ''red salute''.

Thousands of Maoist rebels are collecting in 28 camps around the country as part of a peace deal due to be signed on Tuesday and supposed to end a decade-long insurgency that has claimed more than 13,000 lives.

The rebels are due to lock up their weapons before the signing under United Nations supervision, although they will retain the keys to the stores.

They say they have achieved their main aim, agreement to hold elections to a special assembly to draft a new constitution and, they hope, end a centuries-old monarchy.

''We are confident there will be peace, because the party has assured us what we want will be achieved peacefully,'' said 19-year-old Abhinay, who joined the People's Liberation Army (PLA) three and a half years ago and has just arrived at the site of one of the camps in western Nepal.

''Killing our own people is not a good thing, so we are happy there will be peace.'' Hundreds of rebels have descended on the small village of Dasharathpur, 350 km west of Kathmandu, beside a former government agricultural research station where the Maoists hope to set up a riverside camp.

For the time being they have been billeted in local houses and mill around the streets, many in casual clothes with their weapons hidden. Some played volleyball in a nearby field as a dozen tailors made hundreds of new uniforms.

ARMY BRUTALITY Well drilled in the Maoist rhetoric of ''the struggle against exploitation by feudal aristocrats'', many nevertheless told moving stories of why they joined the insurgency.

''My brother was a teacher,'' said 20-year-old female soldier Manneyeta, dressed in a girlish pink T-shirt and camouflage trousers.

''The army came and asked him to come along. They took him to a river and shot him dead.'' Manneyeta, with pink and yellow plastic flowers in a bracelet around her wrist, said neither she nor her brother had been Maoists.

But her brother's death forced her into the rebel army at the age of just 15.

Again and again, rebels said brutality or harassment by the security forces had convinced them to join the PLA. Now they are hoping to get jobs in a new, reconstituted national army.

''I want to serve the people and protect the country,'' said Abhinay. ''I would like to join the army, but I am prepared to accept whatever responsibility the party gives us, according to our ability.'' Last week, rebel chief Prachanda told Reuters the insurgency would not be over until his forces had been fully integrated into the state army, after constituent assembly elections are held.

But it is far from clear if and how that will happen.

Diplomats say Nepal's army chief is unwilling to absorb large numbers of rebels, and especially reluctant to employ rebel commanders.

For the people of Dasharathpur, though, six months of a ceasefire have already brought dividends. Gone are the days when soldiers would arrive on patrol and beat or even kill them for sheltering the Maoists.

''Earlier, the Maoists used to come and demand food and shelter,'' said 32-year-old Saubhagya Gharti, who owns a wayside tea-shop. ''But now they bring their own food. We used to fear them but not any more.'' But 55-year-old tailor Ratna Bahadur Pariyar begged to differ. He said his five-year-old granddaughter was raped by an armed man just two days after the rebels arrived in the village.

''When I complained to the party, they were not interested in investigating it,'' he said. ''They said no one from the PLA could have done it, because they had no policy of doing these types of things.'' REUTERS SSC ND1224