DUDHAULI, Nepal – Tearful, but hopeful of a bright future, more than 200 former Maoist child soldiers began leaving their jungle camp yesterday as part of a peace deal that ended a bloody insurrection four years ago.
The group is the first of nearly 4,000 former Maoist soldiers, most of whom were under 18 when the peace deal was signed in 2006, to leave remote jungle camps across Nepal over the next month to try to begin a new life.
The release is a move forward in the fragile peace process, which has been stalled since last May after the Maoists quit the government after a conflict with the president over their attempt to fire the army chief.
Wearing marigold garlands, the former child fighters waved at the Maoist military commander Pasang as they left their riverside camp about 100 km (60 miles) southeast of Kathmandu.
The former child fighters, many now in their 20s, left in five buses for their villages, some seated on rooftops with bags in their laps and crying.
“I am very sad to leave other colleagues with whom we stayed for so long,” said 22-year-old Laxmi Gautam, who joined the Maoist organisation five years ago.
Others said they were proud that the monarchy had been abolished and that Nepal was now a republic.
“Without struggle, that would not have been possible. I am proud of it,” said Suhana Rana, also 22, as she left the camp.
The Maoists were demanding financial aid for the former child soldiers, but the government has so far refused. Authorities said the United Nations would support schooling or vocational training, micro-enterprises and training as junior health workers.
“Today marks the first step in the return to civilian life for thousands of Nepalis who have been living in cantonment since 2006,” said Robert Piper, a UN resident representative in Nepal.
The Maoists say the discharge is part of their commitment to peace, but say the government has so far failed to rehabilitate the former child rebels, who are returning to their villages empty- handed. – (Reuters)