Nepal PM rejects Maoist ceasefire

Nepal's army has launched a huge offensive against suspected rebel strongholds

KATHMANDU, Nepal -- Nepal's prime minister has rejected a one-month ceasefire declaration by leaders of the country's Maoist guerillas saying the rebel group cannot be trusted.

The announcement came as the death toll soars from recent battles with government forces in western Nepal for control of a guerilla stronghold.

Speaking to reporters in New York where he is attending a special United Nations meeting on children Prime Minister Sher Bahadure Deuba said the government was prepared for dialogue but further steps were needed from the rebels before talks could begin.

"Once betrayed, we want to make sure the Maoists renounce violence and lay down their arms before fresh talks begin," he said.

The rebel ceasefire offer, scheduled to begin May 15, comes as more than 300 people are reported to have been killed in the latest bout of violence.

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In a statement Thursday Nepal's defense ministry estimated that some 250 rebels had been killed, along with 104 soldiers and police, after Maoist fighters captured a security post in Gam early Wednesday.

The numbers could not be confirmed because journalists have no access to the war zone.

Adding further weight to the government's efforts to combat the six-year-old revolt, Deuba has secured $20 million in military aid from Washington, following his recent meeting in Washington with President Bush.

More aid needed

Deuba has welcomed the assistance but says more money will be needed next year if the government is to succeed in defeating the rebels.

This has not deterred the Maoists, who say they will launch a fierce counteroffensive if government forces attacked during the ceasefire scheduled to begin May 15.

The ceasefire was announced Thursday in an email to several Nepalese newspapers from rebel commander Prachanda.

The origin of the email could not immediately be verified, but the communists have used this method in the past.

The rebel attack in Gam followed a massive offensive by the Nepalese army that began last week.

In that operation, the army said they had killed hundreds of rebels, a claim that also could not be independently corroborated.

Gam, a Himalayan expanse where the rebels' movement to topple Nepal's constitutional monarchy began, was a Maoist stronghold for six years but had been under army control for two months.

The Nepalese government imposed a state of emergency in November that allowed the army for the first time to join police in fighting the rebels, who follow the doctrines of Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong.

Since then the Himalayan kingdom has been wracked by violence as the army presses on with its biggest military operations in six years of fighting.

Battle for control

The fierce battles come as Nepal's prime minister meets top U.S. officials

The ultra-leftist guerrillas regained control of Gam village in the Wednesday attack, a senior official of the Royal Nepalese Army told The Associated Press.

Radio Nepal said army reinforcements reached the area Thursday morning and that a fierce battle to regain the territory followed.

Militarily and symbolically, the rebel's Wednesday raid on Gam, located at a height of about 2,000 meters (6,560 feet), was a major achievement for the Maoists.

At least 130 soldiers and police officers were at the base when the rebels launched their surprise attack.

Until the government captured Gam in a fierce offensive this year, the rebels administered a local government that included taxes and a justice system in the remote western village.

Royal massacre

More than 2,500 people have died in Nepal since the Maoists surfaced in 1996 with their "people's war" campaign.

The rebels intensified their campaign after last June's palace massacre in which King Birendra and most other members of the royal family were killed by his son, Crown Prince Dipendra, who later shot himself to death.

Amid fierce clashes, the Maoists offered to renew peace talks last week but Deuba rejected this and demanded they surrender.

The violence has wrecked the aid-dependent economy and driven away tourists, who are a key source of income.

Nepal's army has participated in international peacekeeping operations but had never fought in an internal conflict until November.