Agence France-Presse .

Kathmandu Leaders of ethnic minority groups battling for more autonomy in southern Nepal announced plans Saturday for strikes and other protests next week to press the government to bow to their demands.

Ethnic Mahadhesis from the lowland Terai region bordering India have been demonstrating for greater representation in national politics by holding protests in their region that have left at least 200 dead in the past year. We will organise indefinite nationwide strikes and peaceful protests from Wednesday to fight for the rights of Mahadhesi people, Mahanta Thakur, chairman of the Terai Mahadhes Democratic Party, told reporters in Kathmandu.

Thakur said three major activist groups had formed a new joint alliance the United Democratic Mahadhes Front on Saturday to kick off their protest in what they called a final revolt against the government. Since former rebel Maoists and the government signed a peace deal in November 2006, around two-dozen armed ethnic groups have emerged in the southern Terai region.

Home to around half of Nepal s 27 million population, the Terai region is known as the country s bread basket and has traditionally been under-represented in national politics. The United Nations says ethnic unrest in southern Nepal needs to be tackled before crucial polls in April to decide Nepal s political future.

The new assembly representatives are expected to write a new constitution that will turn the country into a republic, formally ending a 239-year-old monarchy led by unpopular King Gyanendra. The Mahadhesi people want the government to guarantee a federal state structure with greater autonomy and the right to self determination before the polls, said Rajendra Mahato, leader of Nepal Sadbhawana Party.

There have been a series of bomb attacks at election rallies in the tense region. Elections in the region are impossible unless these demands are fulfilled. As part of the protest programme, we will also ask people to stop paying taxes to the government and close the border (with India), Mahato said. Upendra Yadav, leader of Mahadhesi People s Right Forum, accused the government of breaching past agreements and vowed that the Mahadhesi people will boycott the elections as their political representation has not been guaranteed.

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