Nepal parties stop protests, Maoists press on

KATHMANDU, Apr 25: Nepal's seven-party alliance called off crippling pro-democracy protests today after King Gyanendra announced he was reinstating the dissolved parliament, but Maoist rebels denounced the king's speech as a sham.

The seven parties, speaking as thousands of people cheered and danced on the streets, named former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala as the new head of government and said the first job would be to ensure the Maoists, fighting a decade-long rebellion, joined the political mainstream.

But Maoist leader Prachanda said that the seven parties had committed ''another historic mistake'' and encouraged the people to continue their protests until the parties declared elections for a assembly to write a new constitution.

''The proclamation is a sham and a conspiracy against the Nepali people,'' Prachanda said in a statement in the Nepali language.

''Our party firmly rejects this.'' He also called for a blockade of the capital Kathmandu, a city of 1.5 million people, and district capitals.

The seven parties planned to convert a protest rally called for today into a celebration, and hundreds of thousands of people were expected on the streets of the capital Kathmandu later in the day.

''We have called off the general strike and protest,'' said Krishna Prasad Sitaula, spokesman for the Nepali Congress, the largest party in the alliance.

''Today's planned protest has been converted into a victory rally. This will go down in history as a new example of how peaceful protests are held. This will determine the future of the country.'' The alliance named Koirala as the new head of government.

''All parties have a consensus for him,'' Madhav Kumar Nepal, general secretary of the Congress Party of Nepal, told Reuters after a meeting of the alliance.

Life returned to normal in Kathmandu after almost three weeks of curfew, protests and closures in which 12 people have been killed and hundreds wounded. Many buses and taxis were running for the first time since April 6, and mobile phone connections, cut at the height of the unrest on Saturday, were restored. But riot police were still deployed on street corners and soldiers with automatic weapons were on patrol.

In a nod to the Maoists, with whom the seven parties have a loose alliance, Sitaula said work on an assembly to write a new constitution would be the first priority.

Minendra Rijal, another alliance leader, said: ''We will be doing all we can to bring Maoists to the mainstream of peace and democracy. Now we have to create an environment for an interim government that will have Maoist participation.'' Maoists control vast swaths of the countryside and have been trying to end the monarchy and establish a communist republic. More than 13,000 people have died since 1996.

It was a dramatic end to the weeks of protests that have brought the impoverished kingdom to a standstill.

Nepal's parliament has been dissolved since 2002, and Gyanendra assumed absolute power last year, declaring a state of emergency and vowing to crush the escalating Maoist rebellion.

Speaking on national television late yesterday, the king said he was calling back the assembly.

Impromptu victory celebrations erupted in Kathmandu and in other towns almost immediately.

''This victory is the people's victory, long live democracy,'' hundreds chanted on the streets, whistling and cheering.

The United States welcomed the move and urged a ''ceremonial role'' for the king.

Gyanendra had offered last week to hand over power to a prime minister nominated by the seven parties, but they said this was not enough. Monday's address went much further in content and in tone.

The king said he was reconvening parliament ''convinced that the source of state authority and sovereignty of the kingdom of Nepal is inherent in the people of Nepal, and cognisant of the spirit of the ongoing people's movement''.

''For him to even acknowledge there was a people's movement, that really shocked me,'' said Kunda Dixit, editor of the Nepali Times.

REUTERS

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