 Nepal will form a new interim government that will include communist rebels, who have waged a decade-long insurgency that has killed 13,000 people in this Himalayan nation, the elusive rebel leader said Friday after meeting with the prime minister.
The interim government will be formed within a month, rebel leader Prachanda said, announcing an agreement between the Maoists and the nascent democratic government. "This is a historic decision and will move the country in a new direction," he said after an unprecedented daylong meeting with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and leaders of all seven political parties in the ruling alliance.
| He said, rubbing his hands in glee. |
The interim government, which will eventually create a new permanent constitution, will replace the current national parliament as well as the Maoists' "people's government," which rules the territory they control. The agreement also calls for the creation of an interim constitution and United Nations oversight of both the Nepalese soldiers and Maoist fighters. It made no mention, however, of disarmament.
It was the first time Prachanda, whose real name is Pushpa Kamal Dahal, had met Nepal's top leadership since the insurgency began in For years, he was hardly seen at all, appearing only occasionally in remote villages controlled by the rebels. For a decade, Prachanda has been Nepal's most elusive figure, the son of a farmer and a schoolteacher whose rebel movement had taken control of wide swaths of rural Nepal, one of the world's poorest nations, during a war to create a communist nation.
The meeting came after government and rebel negotiators met Thursday for their second round of peace talks, agreeing to form a monitoring committee of peace activists and human rights workers with help from the United Nations.
| Oh they'll be a big help. |
Nepal's new government took office after King Gyanendra agreed to relinquish control in April following weeks of anti-monarchy protests and a general strike. The unrest was organized largely by the politicians now in power and backed by the rebels _ a bond that smoothed the way for the peace dialogue. |