Summary: On Feb. 1, Nepal's King Gyanendra dismissed the elected government, seized power, silenced the independent press, suspended civil liberties and began detaining activists and politicians. The takeover provoked an international outcry. Foreign governments suspended arms sales and threatened to freeze desperately needed economic aid. Human rights groups expressed alarm, saying that could worsen the already deteriorating human rights situation. The king justifies the crackdown as a necessary step to snuff out a decade-long Maoist insurgency that has seized control of much of rural Nepal and killed more than 11,500 people. Rebels fighting to overthrow the monarchy and establish a communist state have responded by stepping up their attacks. Maoist fighters have called for nationwide strikes and ambushed convoys on the national highway, slowing the shipment of goods from the countryside and from neighboring India. Deteriorating security has taken its toll on the economy. Prices of many food staples have doubled in the capital. In a country of 24 million people, where more than 80 percent make their livings by farming the steep terraced hills of the lower Himalayas, it has become almost impossible for some farmers to get their goods to market. Increasingly, Nepal has become a nation divided. While dissidents decry the king's moves, many Nepalese - exhausted by years of fighting - have welcomed his seizure of power and hope it will break the back of the rebel movement. The Maoists themselves make their anger clear by occasionally dynamiting royal monuments.