TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Maoists Agree To Rejoin Nepal's Government

ADVERTISEMENT

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA, The Associated Press

Published: December 24, 2007

KATMANDU, Nepal - Nepal's former communist rebels agreed Sunday to rejoin the government, officials said, signaling an end to a political crisis that led to the indefinite postponement of elections. The pact also will abolish Nepal's monarchy.

No date has been set for the ex-rebels, usually referred to as Maoists, to rejoin the government. They left in September, demanding the immediate abolition of the monarchy and changes to the election system.

An agreement for them to rejoin has been signed, however, by leaders of the seven main political parties, including the Maoists, said Arjun Narsingh of Nepali Congress, the Himalayan country's largest party.

The 23-point pact said the leaders also agreed that once a constituent assembly is elected by mid-April, its first meeting will declare Nepal a republic state and end its centuries-old monarchy. That change had been expected for months.

The constituent assembly would rewrite Nepal's constitution and hammer out the details of a new political structure.

The parties agreed the assembly would have 240 members directly elected by the voters and 335 who will get seats under a proportional representation system, with parties receiving seats in proportion to the number of votes they receive.

The rebels began their armed insurgency in 1996. It left at least 13,000 people dead in 10 years of fighting between the communist guerrillas and government troops.

The rebels formed links with the main political parties last year, joining pro-democracy street protests that forced King Gyanendra to give up direct rule.

The rebels later declared a cease-fire, signed a peace agreement and confined their combatants and weapons to United Nations-monitored camps. They joined Nepal's parliament in January and the government in April.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT