Nepal peace edges closer but big hurdles remain

Kathmandu, Aug 11: Nepal's peace process took a big step forward this week when the government and Maoist rebels agreed to confine their troops to camps, but hurdles remain over implementing the deal and over the role of the king.

On Wednesday, Nepal's multi-party government and Maoist rebels agreed to ask the United Nations to monitor combatants and their weapons during elections next year to an assembly due to write a new constitution for the Himalayan country.

That assembly, the Maoists hope, will decide to abolish Nepal's centuries-old monarchy, something they have been fighting for since 1996.

The deal appeared to rescue the three-month-old peace process, two days after a senior rebel leader had warned it was close to collapse over the question of rebel weapons.

''Making headway,'' The Kathmandu Post said in a headline.

''This provides enough reason for ordinary people to believe that the long-standing issue of arms management is finally inching towards an amicable settlement,'' it said.

But the devil may yet be in the detail, some analysts warned.

The two sides did not spell out whether the rebels would be separated from their arms within those camps, as the government has demanded, or would retain control over their weapons.

Instead the deal simply said that the ''modalities'' for monitoring and verifying Maoist fighters and their arms would be worked out by political parties, the rebels and the United Nations.

''This provision has kept the possibility of dispute over the process of separating the arms from fighters still alive,'' said Nepali weekly, Samay.

Its editor Yubaraj Ghimire told Reuters the arms issue could yet delay the process of the Maoists joining an interim government supposed to oversee constituent assembly elections.

''This does not ensure immediate inclusion of the Maoists in the government because the international community as well as the prime minister are very clear that without the arms and combatants being separated, Maoists can't join the interim cabinet,'' he said.

Row over the King

The Maoists, who have been fighting to topple the monarchy and establish a communist republic, are refusing to disarm and want their 36,000 fighters to merge with the army after the assembly vote. Diplomats and some political parties have in the past warned that such an arrangement would allow the rebels to intimidate people during constituent assembly elections and return to war if the assembly did not deliver what they want.

Nevertheless, more signs of progress came this week when a panel said it had completed a draft of an interim constitution supposed to guide the interim government in the run-up to constituent assembly elections.

But controversial questions about the role of the monarchy during that interim period were shelved by the panel, and will be the subject of further talks between the rebels and parties.

The rebels are reluctant to allow the king even a ceremonial role in that interim period. But the government says the king's future should be decided by the popularly elected assembly.

''There are some tricky issues and hurdles to be cleared before the interim constitution is finalised,'' Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation Minister Pradip Gyanwali, a government negotiator, told Reuters.

Both sides have been observing a ceasefire since King Gyanendra bowed to street protests in April and handed power to political parties.

But it is clear that much work remains to be done before Nepal can declare an end to an insurgency that has claimed 13,000 lives.

''There are many political issues on which both sides have serious differences,'' defence analyst Bishnu Raj Upreti said.

''If there is an agreement on political issues, the problem of arms can be settled easily,'' he said.

Reuters

Related Stories