NEPAL, Namche Bazaar – After banning journalists from reporting on the Chinese Olympic Torch relay to the summit of Mount Everest from the Nepalese side of the border, the Nepalese authorities have now also banned trekkers from visiting the popular Everest Base Camp, situated on the moraine high on the Khumbu Glacier.
According to reports on the BBC World Service, no one without a climbing permit can stay at the base camp. Theroretically, this means the expedition leaders and doctors may have to leave the camp, which is every spring and autumn a small tent city full of climbing teams.
The reason? Nepalese officials to say it is to stop pro-Tibetan protests at the camp.
The Nepalese government’s unequivical support for Beijing is due to it providing a lot of financial aid to Nepal.
Nepalese security forces have already set up several checkpoints along the Everest trail to search for "banned flags" (i.e. Tibetan ones).
Meanwhile, many Tibetans have been arrested in Kathmandu for staging pro-Tibet demos. This has drawn criticism from the US government.
The Everest Base Camp is currently under a communication blackout, with climbers not even able to use satellite phones or video cameras.
A few days ago, the Nepalese security forces – which are armed and also present at Camp 2 on the mountain – booted out the BBC Nepal correspondent, Charles Haviland. That came days after an American climber, William Holland, was caught with a banner which reportedly read: "Free Tibet! F**k China!"
The climber was deported and banned from climbing in Nepal for two years.
Everest Base Camp often has a small contingent of non-climbers, incluing expedition leaders, photographers, doctors and friends or relatives of the climbers themselves. It appears all of these people will be ordered away from the camp. Though there is no confirmation of this as yet.
One climber who returned to Namche Bazaar, some ten miles or so from the famous mountain, said the atmosphere was not very pleasant and while not wanting to be named, complained bitterly about the security clampdown around the normally non-controversial moraine camp-site.
"I will be climbing in Pakistan for the next few years, that’s for sure," the climber said.
Reports from the Tibetan side of the mountain, which is the route of the Olympic Torch, say the Chinese climbing team is held up at Advanced Base Camp and climbers on the Nepali side are worried that the Chinese will extend the torch attempt and leave them with not enough time to climb the mountain.
Aside from being the base camp for those summiting Mount Everest and Mount Lhotse, the tent-city is the goal of many trekkers in the region. The ban is to last some four days, though may be extended if the Chinese climbing team in neighbouring Tibet are held up by the upredictable spring weather.