'Nepal Maoists eye total power, may derail peace'

Kathmandu, July 13: Nepal's former Maoist rebels are determined to grab absolute power in the Himalayan nation and could derail the country's movement towards democracy, outgoing US ambassador James F. Moriarty said today.

Continued violence by the Maoists, who have joined the country's interim government, and ''extremist'' ethnic Madhesi groups in the southern plains must be stopped, Moriarty said.

''The Maoists and Madhesi extremists are destroying your nation, your economy and your international reputation,'' Moriarty said at his final news conference in Kathmandu as U S envoy.

Moriarty has been a fierce critic of the Maoists who joined the interim cabinet in April under a peace deal ending their decade-long civil war, which killed more than 13,000 people.

''They have not yet abandoned the desire for a monopoly of power,'' the controversial U S diplomat said.

''The Maoists must start to adhere to their commitments under the peace agreement, rein in the YCL and begin to act like a real political party.'' In May, activists from the Young Communist League (YCL), the youth wing of the Maoists, threw rocks at a car in which he was travelling in southeast Nepal but Moriarty was unhurt.

The Maoists have accused the United States of wanting to undermine the peace process by opposing any role for the former rebels in mainstream politics.

The Maoists have confined 31,000 fighters to camps and locked nearly 3,500 weapons in containers under U N supervision as part of the peace deal.

But Moriarty said the Maoists, who still feature on the US list of ''terrorist'' organisations, had not handed over all their weapons and were violating the peace pact.

The diplomat said violence by hardline groups of ethnic Madhesis -- who are culturally and linguistically closer to Indians from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh states than to other Nepalis -- had clouded the peace process.

Scores of people have been killed this year in violence by Madhesi groups in the fertile southern plains of the Terai.

They have been demanding greater representation for their community in the bureaucracy, the army and in political parties and some are insisting on regional automony.

Moriarty is being succeeded by Nancy Powell, a former ambassador to Pakistan.

The Maoists and the government have agreed to hold elections in November for a constituent assembly which will draft a new constitution, and take a decision on the fate of the monarchy that the Maoists want abolished.

''If there is no election in November this country will be in serious trouble,'' Moriarty said.

Reuters

Related Stories