Washington:  The United States has revised its policy and met with former Maoist rebels who have been elected to top positions in Nepal's new government.

But a senior US official has a message for the former communist insurgents that now constitute Nepal s dominant political force: The degree to which the US will work with them depends on how successfully they stay away from violence.

The Maoists are on US terrorism blacklists, and US policy previously was to shun the group that waged a 10-year insurgency in which more than 13,000 people died.

Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Evan Feigenbaum, just returned from a three-day trip to Nepal, told reporters today at the State Department that the US has decided to work with the Maoists to try to encourage a stable, democratic and peaceful country.

He would not speculate about the group s possible removal from the terror lists. The US, he said, would be watching very closely how the Maoists deal with their new role.

The United States "basic message," he said, "is the degree to which we can work with anyone in Nepal will depend, very directly, on the degree to which they continue to embrace the political process and abandon violence."

In the Mideast, the United States will not have any formal contact with Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and Hezbollah, which is a powerful opposition in Lebanon. The US considers them both terrorist organisations.

The Maoists, Feigenbaum said, have tempered their views since entering the political process, spurring the revision in US policy. The group gave up its insurgency in 2006,joined mainstream politics last year and is now playing a major role in Nepal s new government.

Feigenbaum and the US ambassador in Nepal have met with the group s top leaders. The US, he said, is discussing how it can help the poor country wedged between growing powers India and China.

Source : PTI