UN urges Nepal gov't, Maoists to punish rights abusers

KATHMANDU, Jan 24 (Reuters) The United Nations urged the Nepali government and Maoists, after striking a landmark peace deal, to punish army officers and former rebel commanders who were guilty of violating human rights in a decade-long civil war.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour told reporters today that she had pressed for an end to impunity in her meetings with government and Maoist leaders during a six-day visit that ended today.

Local and international human rights groups accused both army and Maoists of murders, kidnappings, disappearances, arbitrary detention and torture during a conflict that killed more than 13,000 people.

''I believe there should be prosecution of those most responsible for these levels of gross violations of human rights,'' Arbour said.

''There is no prospect for sustainable peace without the personal accountability of those who have perpetrated these abuses,'' she said.

In November, the multiparty government and the Maoists signed a deal declaring an end to the anti-monarchy insurgency that also displaced some 200,000 people.

Under the deal, Maoists have joined a temporary parliament and are to be named in an interim government after storing their arms under UN supervision.

Arbour also visited the countryside ravaged by the war and met families whose relatives had disappeared after being detained by soldiers or kidnapped by the former rebels.

''The suffering they expressed is testament to the fact that disappearances are on-going human rights violations,'' the UN rights chief said.

She urged both government and Maoists to ''clarify the whereabouts or fate of all those who disappeared, and to provide justice and redress for their families''.

The UN Security Council yesterday approved a new mission in Nepal expected to include 186 military monitors, to help enforce the fragile peace pact, supervise disarmament of the former rebels and ensure the army stays in its barracks.

A day curfew had been extended in two southeastern Nepal towns today to prevent further trouble from anti-government protesters in the southern plains after five people were killed in the past week in the worst violence since the peace deal, officials said.

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