The RUF was still evidently in control; roadblocks were manned by six-year-olds with sub-machine-guns; the UN peacekeeping troops had not dared leave their camps for weeks. By then, the sands upon which the fragile peace that followed the Lome peace accord of 1999 was built had already begun to shift. By the early 1990s it was in control of the north, and had created bases in the towns of Magburaka and Makeni, close to my family’s village. Their ranks soon swelled with disaffected young men and women who joined the fight against Sierra Leone’s government, a regime that had brought the country to ruins. My father was born there in the 1930s, and I first learned the name of the village two years ago when I began to write a book, The Devil that Danced on the Water, the story of our lives and his death at the hands of one of Africa’s many dictators, Siaka Stevens. I had dreamt of this place before I had ever even seen it.

One senior Western source said: “Let’s just hope that the ceasefire sticks. If it doesn’t, this conflict will become even greater and could drag on for decades.”. “India would probably come in and that would upset the Chinese and Pakistan and who knows what would happen.”Such views are considered by many as alarmist But nerves have been fraying. China is watching nervously for any sign that the uprising might affect Tibet.If the Maoists were one day to throw out the monarchy and Kathmandu’s ruling elite, the consequences could be serious. India is fretting the Maoists successes will give heart to its leftist armed insurgents. Anxious to avoid rebels and security forces, many thousands of men have fled to cities or into India, depleting the potential recruitment pool.The international community and Nepal’s neighbours have been worried the conflict could eventually unsettle the entire region.

Nepalese intelligence services have proved unable to penetrate the Maoist ranks. And there is little chance the kingdom’s army – more used to acting as international peacekeepers than fighters – will subdue the guerrillas, who number at least 10,000 men and women operating in mountain-ous terrain well beyond the government’s reach.Rampant corruption among the Kathmandu elite, atrocities committed by the security forces and creeping popular disillusionment with the monarchy and the country’s political parties have strengthened the Maoists’ hand.They have built support among the elements that get the roughest deal from the caste-ridden Nepalese society – untouchables, women and the rural poor. The last ceasefire, in mid-2001, fell apart after negotiations.The declaration also coincides with nagging international concerns that the conflict will ultimately destabilise an already combustible part of Asia.There has been nothing to suggest the conflict can be resolved through military force. “The peace process will begin immediately,” said a government minister.