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Posted
on 27-Sep-01 09:43 AM
Nepal's Gurkhas to join U.N. in Sierra Leone
KATHMANDU, Sept. 26 — Nepal's Gurkha soldiers will join the U.N. peacekeeping operations in Sierra Leone next month, an official said on Wednesday.
Defence Secretary Padam Kumar Acharya said 800 soldiers from the Royal Nepal Army would join the U.N. Mission in Sierra Leone as part of the multinational peacekeeping force in the troubled West African nation.
''The Nepali soldiers will be sent in three batches and the first members will leave in the first week of October,'' Acharya told Reuters.
Nepal's King Gyanendra met the soldiers on Wednesday at a training camp outside Kathmandu and asked them to fulfill their mission honestly, one official said.
A shortage of soldiers has hindered the U.N. deployment programme in Sierra Leone since India withdrew its force -- the U.N. mission's largest national contingent -- last year. Jordan also withdrew its troops.
Nepal has contributed about 40,000 troops for peacekeeping missions around the world since 1958.
Nepali soldiers returned home recently after completing a mission in Lebanon. Other soldiers are serving in East Timor.
The Royal Nepal Army consists of Gurkha soldiers who hail from the Himalayan foothills and are famed for their fighting skills.
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Posted
on 27-Sep-01 09:49 AM
US proposes putting troops in Nepal
Kathmandu Sep 27 (dpa)
The United States wants to station its troops in Nepal for its expected military action in Afghanistan to hunt down Osmana bin Laden and other terrorists, a Nepalese language newspaper reported today.
The daily Rajdhani, quoting sources from the Nepalese Foreign Ministry, said the ministry received a proposal from the United States to station its troops in the Himalayan Kingdom.
Nepal has extended full support to the US in its war against terrorism, and has said it will make available all facilities including the use of its airspace and refuelling facilities.
The US proposal did not specify the number of troops it wants to station in Nepal in its mission in Afghanistan, the newspaper said.
According to the report, the Nepalese foreign secretary, Narayan Shumshere Thapa, gave the US proposal to Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba who also looks after the foreign ministry portfolio.
The newspaper said Prime Minister Deuba ''was positive towards the proposal''.
The newspaper, quoting a government minister, said Nepal fully supported the US initiative to weed out world terrorism, and wants to extend all possible support.
However, he is quoted as saying that Nepal has yet to decide whether or not to allow the stationing of US troops in Nepal.
Prime Minister Deuba, according to the newspaper, may put forward the proposal at the scheduled weekly cabinet meeting later Thursday.
All shades of Nepalese communists have flayed the government decision to allow the US to use the Nepalese airspace, and Nepal's decision top provide refuelling facilities to US forces.
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| TP |
Posted
on 27-Sep-01 09:54 AM
Are Gurkhas as brave as what they used to be? They have not fought any wars for sometime. (Only some money-gathering, VCR/TV-gathering, sun-chandi-gathering peace keeping mission with some small-range combat opportunities...not to mention fighting against the not so armed Maobadis.) Militaries around the world have made great strides in technology. Even the Internet itself came from America's defence initiatives. I wonder what is Nepal's stance on this.
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| Koko |
Posted
on 27-Sep-01 02:59 PM
I wonder if the Mao problem will be solved if the US troops come to Nepal. They are also terrorists. Wonder if US wil help us rid of them. Then only we can focus on developement of the country. Seems like our king does not have the Balls to mobilize the Royal Nepalese Army to take care of these pests.
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| TP |
Posted
on 27-Sep-01 03:41 PM
Imagine the Mao and UML displaying the black flag to the US troops in Nepal...just like what they did when Hillary Clinton came to Nepal a few years ago.
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