Maoists end road blockade

"Army escorts of vehicles coming in and going out of the capital (Kathmandu) will continue for some time," a security official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We're serious about protecting vehicles and the public."

The Maoists called the nationwide blockade to protest against Gyanendra's decision February 1 to dismiss the civilian government and assume absolute power in what the monarch said was a move to end the deadly insurgency.

The protest was the latest in a series called by the rebels who have been battling since 1996 to topple the monarchy and install a communist government.

The blockade launched on April 2 cut the number of buses and trucks on roads in the Kathmandu valley by about 50 percent to 1,500, the security official said.

A senior official of the Federation of the Nepalese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, P.R. Pandey, expressed relief at the end of the protest.

Nepal's Maoist rebels have shot dead a government official in the country's remote southwest, police said yesterday.

The rebels late Monday barged into the home of Balananda Kafle, acting chief district officer of Bardiya district, and gunned him down, a senior police officer said.

Meanwhile, Nepal has agreed to immediately allow United Nations monitors into the country to help prevent human rights abuses, the UN's top human rights official announced Monday, after authorities there came under pressure from their main aid donors.

"Breaking the cycle of serious and systematic abuses will be the first essential step toward achieving peace and reconciliation in Nepal," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour said.