No war no peace Shaktikhor, Chitwan, Nepal Maoist combatants at Shaktikhor, one of 28 Maoist camps in Nepal. After a peace agreement was signed in 2006 that ended a decade long civil war between the state and the Maoist People's Liberation Army, some 19,000 Maoist combatants were disarmed by the United Nations Mission In Nepal and confined to live in camps all over the country. For 5 years their lives were put on hold, waiting for the politicians to decide their fate. Only recently they are being reintegrated in society or, for some, allowed to join the Nepalese Army. © 2009 Tom Van Cakenberghe. All rights reserved. |