Nepal has reopened the summit of Mount Everest to climbers on its side after a Chinese team carried the Olympic flame to the world's highest peak.

Olympic torch reaches summit of Mt. Everest ...
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Top US official meets Dalai Lama ... Scores of mountaineers at Everest base camp are now resuming their ascent, Nepal's Tourism Ministry told the BBC.

Nepal blocked access to the summit in March amid Chinese fears that Tibetan activists might stage a protest.

Demonstrations against Chinese rule in Tibet have followed the torch around the world in recent weeks.

'Set off'

"Mountaineers are allowed to move towards the summit from today [Thursday]," Nepal's tourism ministry spokesman Prem Rai told the BBC.

"There are 29 groups of climbers and each group has nine members and some of them have already set off."

Large-scale Tibetan protests have been held over the past few weeks against Chinese rule as Beijing gets ready to host the Olympics in August.

Buddhist monks have been demonstrating in and around Lhasa, the Tibetan capital.

Tibetans living in exile in Nepal and India have also held weeks of protests.

Many Tibetans want independence from China, which has long claimed the mountainous territory as its own.

Mount Everest straddles the border between Nepal and China and can be scaled by a northern and a southern route.

The more popular southern route passes through Nepal, while the northern ascent goes through Tibet.

(BBC)

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