A convoy of oil tankers arrived in Kathmandu on Tuesday under armed police guard, the first major delivery of fuel to Nepal's capital since a blockade led to shortages of petrol and food, officials said.
The strike and blockade, which began last week in Nepal's fertile southern plains bordering India, has been called by ethnically based protest groups to demand greater autonomy for the Terai region, home to half the country's population. The crisis has also raised serious doubts over the government's plans to hold a national election in April.
In an attempt to ease the tension, organisers of the protests said they were in talks with authorities to explain their position and seek the government response to their demands.
The tankers began the journey from the Indian border to the capital late on Monday and, using the cover of a night curfew, arrived on Tuesday. All Nepal's fuel and many essential goods come from India, and almost everything has to pass through the plains of the Terai to Kathmandu. "Yes, 36 trucks carrying fuel have arrived. But that is not enough to ease the scarcity," said Purushottam Ojha, a senior official in the Ministry of Supplies.
The government has vowed to press ahead with the April 10 election for a national assembly expected to prepare a new constitution and formally declare an end to the nearly 240-year-old monarchy.
The vote is the centrepiece of a 2006 peace deal with Maoist former rebels, which allowed the insurgents to join the political mainstream. The election has already been delayed twice because of political uncertainty.
But ethnic Madheshi groups say the pact had failed to address the demands of Madheshis and have threatened to boycott the poll. "If we are talking about fair and reasonably acceptable elections, the chances of its taking place in April are almost gone," said Yubaraj Ghimire, editor of the news magazine, Samay.
The strike has left the highways to the Kathmandu Valley, home to 2 million people, deserted. Thousands of cars and motorcycles have been lining up for several hours outside the few petrol pumps in Kathmandu which remain open, while most public buses and taxis have stopped operating.