Nepal strike holds firm

The seven-year insurgency has claimed more than 7,000 lives

A general strike called by Maoist rebels has brought normal life across Nepal to a standstill for a second day.

Factories, schools and businesses are closed and public transport cancelled in the rebel-led protest against the country's monarchy.

Despite government pleas for people to ignore the three-day strike call, many citizens heeded it, fearful of defying the guerrillas.

Violence has escalated in recent weeks after peace talks between the rebels and the government broke down in late August.

There has been an upsurge in Maoist violence since then, in which almost 200 people have died.

Four people were killed on the first day of the strike, police say.

And the authorities report 50 rebels and seven security personnel killed on Wednesday in a major offensive against a western rebel stronghold at Rolpa. The rebels say they suffered many fewer casualties.

'Tension'

The stoppage is the rebels' toughest action since the return to war.

Usually busy main roads in the capital are silent.

Why the rebels use strikes

Soldiers and riot police have been patrolling the empty streets in open trucks, while buses and taxis lie idle.

As in the rest of the kingdom, life in the trekkers' hub of Pokhara is reported to be at a standstill.

"It is completely quiet and everything is closed," one tourist, Kimberly Balazs from the United States, told Reuters news agency by telephone from Pokhara.

"There is tension in the air. I do feel there is danger in the country, but I don't think the Maoists are targeting tourists."

International flights in and out of Kathmandu are operating on schedule, but all domestic flights have been cancelled.

Buses with armed policemen are transporting tourists to their hotels.

Negotiations

Observers say there is little prospect of peace efforts resuming in the near future.

The government says it is ready for talks, but insists the rebels first renounce violence.

The rebels also say they are ready for dialogue, but want the government to agree on a constituent assembly that will draw up a new constitution.

They believe this will clear the way for their goal of replacing the monarchy with a communist republic.

Disagreement on the constitution led to the breakdown of the ceasefire and the general strike call.

The Maoists began their uprising against Nepal's constitutional monarchy in 1996 and nearly 8,000 people have been killed since then.