The Red Cross has urged Nepal's new Maoist-led government to clarify the fate of those who went missing during the country's 10-year civil conflict.

There are more than 1,000 people who disappeared as a result of army or Maoist rebel actions and whose whereabouts have never been made clear.

Along with the clarification, the Red Cross wants a public acknowledgement of the suffering of the families.

Nepal is observing the International Day of the Disappeared on Saturday.

Lost villagers

The International Committee of the Red Cross admits its new publication is "a painful thing to look at".

It is a stark list of 1,227 names of people, 91% of them men, who have been reported as missing because of the decade-long war.

None of their remains have been found and the politicians, army and former rebels have been silent on the issue.

Mary Werntz, head of the ICRC in Nepal, said: "We have some rough indication that there were some people compensated at one point or another.

"But there's never been a letter from any state authority, never any official recognition to any of the families of the missing to our knowledge."

One village near Kathmandu, Jogimara, lost 17 men, all of whom had gone to the war-torn west for construction work.

It is almost certain they died in an aerial bombardment but there is no proof.

Without that, they get no compensation; women cannot inherit or pass on their husbands' possessions.

The ICRC and the Nepal Red Cross have collected the names of the missing in years of visits to the remotest villages. They know there may be more.

They have launched a public exhibition of haunting photographs from Jogimara village - images of the sadness of those who still do not know what happened to their loved ones.

(BBC)

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