Nepal protesters end hunger strike after assurance

KATHMANDU, June 7 (Reuters) Protesters who went on a hunger strike seeking the whereabouts of people missing in Nepal's civil war said today they had ended their fast after the government promised to give them information.

Three men who started the protest in front of the parliament building on Wednesday ended the strike later the same day, after the multi-party government said it would make public details of hundreds of missing people.

Relatives say they went missing after being detained by soldiers or police during the 10-year Maoist revolt which began in 1996.

''We suspended our hunger strike after the government promised to meet our demands within a week,'' said Jitman Basnet, one of the three protesters. ''If it does not fulfil its commitment we will launch fresh protests.'' Hundreds of people are reported missing in the Himalayan nation's civil war in which more than 13,000 people have been killed.

Human rights groups accuse the poorly trained army and police as well as the Maoists of abuses, including kidnappings, arbitrary detention, killings and disappearances.

Nepal's Supreme Court ordered the government last week to compensate dozens of families of missing people and investigate disappearances.

REUTERS GL ND1742