Nepali capital returns to normal

Two major highways linking the city with the rest of the country are bristling with the movement of passenger buses and trucks.

The rebels said they would lift the blockade after appeals from rights groups, businesses and Nepali citizens.

The blockade sent prices up and put pressure on the new government.

The rebels are demanding the release of detained comrades and investigations into how other colleagues died.

The blockade was imposed through the fear of reprisals, rather than any physical roadblocks.

"I have waited for a week to return," Surya Gurung, a stranded government worker, told Associated Press. "It should be safe enough (now) for me to take back my family on the bus."

Ordinary citizens of Kathmandu were relieved that the blockade had been lifted.

"People were starting to suffer because of the blockade. We should be able to get food and fuel and prices of vegetables and other food should return to normal," college student Ram Thapa said.

"The rebels should refrain from imposing such blockades that leaves thousands of people to suffer."

Analysts in Kathmandu say that mentioning a time limit is likely to be a face-saving measure on the part of the rebels.

"This was a high-risk strategy for the Maoists. They tried to feel the pulse of the people but they paid a high price in alienating the common people of Kathmandu," human rights activist Kapil Shrestha told the French news agency AFP.

Others say the month-long suspension of the blockade also gives the government more time to resume peace talks with the rebels.

"Secretly the government is surely doing its homework to make sure negotiations are successful," political scientist Lok Raj Baral said.

The Nepali government has said it will investigate what happened to a number of left-wing activists who have disappeared over the past few months-a key demand of the rebels. It has refused to free the detained suspects.