Biratnagar, May 29, 2006

Aided by other women, Gulesa Began of a Muslim settlement in Biratnagar-22, who had been bearing the atrocities meted out by her drunkard husband for many years, handed him over to a nearby police office.

“My husband Muhammadhad been ill-treating me for years. Unable to withstanding his atrocities any more, I handed him over to police,” Gulesa said, adding: “His activities are not tolerable.” A mother of six children, Gulesa said: “My 15-yearold son is helping run the family.

By drinking alcohol, my husband burns all the money earned through rickshaw-pulling.” “Initially, she did not want her husband released, but agreed to his release after her husband vowed not to drink alcohol again,” said inspector Jivan Shrestha of the Area Police Office, Rani. Domani has also been facing the same problem.

Her husband Sorab Miya escaped when he came to know he was about to be handed over to police, villagers said.

According to inspector Shrestha, women of the settlement want their tipsy husbands arrested. Launching a campaign, women have been demanding that their drunkard husbands be arrested.

Some of them have handed their drunken men to police.

Nepali soldier killed in Congo clash; 7 captured

At least one Nepalese UN peacekeeper has been killed, three injured and seven others have been captured in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo by militia fighters, the Directorate of Public Relations of Nepalese Army said today.

It is reported that the militia fighters are demanding a ransom for the release of hostages. “We do have seven soldiers who are unaccounted for and we are continuing our efforts on the ground to try and determine their fate,” Kemal Saiki, spokesman for the UN mission in Congo has been reported as saying.

According to the spokesperson of Nepalese Army, Brigadier General Nepal Bhusan Chand, the soldiers were captured during a cordon and search mission in Congo’s violence-prone Ituri district yesterday in which Nepalese Battallion of Bhairavi regiment along with the National Congolese Army exchanged fire with militia.

The Army has learnt, Chand said, that the three injured are being treated at the UN’s Level-2 hospital in Congo and the seven Nepalese abductees are safe. The “cordon and search” mission was taking place in Dhera, 100 km north of the main regional town of Bunia.

“The incident showed that the 17,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission in Congo  the biggest in the world  was still struggling to pacify parts of the vast central African country ahead of historic elections scheduled to be held on July 30,” according to Reuters.