Kathmandu, June 20: The Commander of the US Army in the Pacific, Lieutenant-General James Campbell, assured Nepal of support amid a six-month truce with Maoist rebels, an Army official said here today. The Maoist rebellion was among issues discussed between Campbell and Nepal's Army chief General Pyar Jung Thapa at the Army headquarters yesterday.

"Lieutenant-General Campbell assured him of US military cooperation to make the Royal Nepal Army well-equipped," a Nepalese Army official said.

The United States has offered financial and political support to the Nepalese government in its battle against the Maoists, who launched an insurrection in 1996 with the aim of toppling the constitutional monarchy.

The two sides reached a truce on January 29 and have held two rounds of peace talks.

The Maoists have accused Washington of trying to scuttle the peace drive in April by including the rebels for the first time in the state department's annual blacklist of terrorist groups.

However, Washington did not classify the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist as a "designated foreign terrorist organization," which would make its funding illegal under US law.

Bureau Report