Thousands displaced by violence in southern Nepal, says rights group

KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) - Thousands of people have fled their homes and are living in temporary shelters after days of violent clashes killed at least 22 people in a southern Nepal district this month, a prominent human rights group said Tuesday.

At least 5,000 people have been displaced from Kapilbastu district, about 300 kilometers (180 miles) southwest of Katmandu, since violence erupted Sept. 16, said Kujan Aryal of the Katmandu-based human rights group INSEC-Nepal. The fighting lasted for several days but appears to have ended, Aryal said.

Many residents either fled to temporary shelters in neighboring districts or crossed Nepal's southern border into India to escape the violence, Aryal said.

"Security has been tightened by the authorities and violence has ceased for now, but once security is relaxed there is a good chance violence will once again erupt," he said. "The authorities need to make arrangements to ensure there will be no such clashes in the future."

Aryal was part of a team of human rights workers who visited the area to assess the situation over the weekend.

The clashes erupted after gunmen killed a local politician, leaving at least 22 people dead and hundreds injured. Rioting ended after authorities imposed a curfew and brought in thousands of police officers.

A high-level commission headed by a court judge is investigating the violence. It is still unclear which groups were actually involved.

Residents of the villages have complained that the authorities have been slow to offer assistance.

"We have been waiting every day for government officials and political leaders to come and help these poor displaced families, but where are they?" asked Rajendra Bikram Shahi in Shivagadi village in Kapilbastu, according to INSEC-Nepal.

The violence is the latest to engulf southern Nepal, where at least 90 people have been killed this year as ethnic groups, some of them armed, have held protests and strikes to demand greater rights for their region, which they say has been sidelined in favor of the more populated, mountainous north.