네팔뉴스 #20..

IHT, NYT wrote yesterday, 4.29..

Nepal minister takes new stand on rebels

Five years ago, in his fourth term as prime minister of Nepal, Girija Prasad Koirala, the elder statesman of Nepalese politics, ordered the Royal Nepalese Army to tackle a Maoist insurgency brewing in the hills. The army top brass, unaccustomed to playing anything but a ceremonial role and answerable ultimately to the king of Nepal, refused.

On Friday, Koirala, 84, was poised to take the oath of prime minister once again. He was too ill to attend the swearing-in ceremony, his fellow Nepali Congress party officials said.

But as Parliament convened Friday for the first time in four years, following three weeks of rowdy street protests in the capital and a concession by King Gyanendra to give up control, Koirala sent a statement laden with promises. He vowed to invite the Maoists for talks, to announce a cease- fire in reciprocation for a rebel gesture two days ago and to hold elections to draw up a new Constitution, the rebels' chief demand.

Such promises were nothing short of astonishing, considering Koirala's earlier antipathy to the rebels. It also signaled the momentous changes in Nepalese politics at a moment that history might well remember as the crossroads between war and peace.

The challenges facing Koirala and the new government that he will form when Parliament reconvenes Sunday are manifold. There is the army that once defied Koirala's instructions and still remains under the command of Narayanhiti Palace. Its chief of staff has promised to cooperate with a new government, but whether Royal Nepalese Army troops will, in fact, agree to a truce and follow the directives of an interim government that could include the Maoists remains an open question.

Then there are the Maoists. The new government faces the choice of acting tough with the rebels or treating them as partners in pushing the king to make changes. Recent promises aside, the Maoists have offered little proof that they will begin to play by the rules of parliamentary democracy. No one knows whether they will compromise for the sake of wielding power in the new government, which they call a "bourgeois democracy." Equally uncertain is whether they will be able to rein in their own soldiers, pumped up for a decade to fight for one-party communist rule.

The United States, among the most vocal critics of the Maoists, has already called on them to put down their weapons before elections for a constitutional assembly can be held. The Maoists have said they will not do that, but they have promised to isolate their armed troops under international supervision so long as the army does the same. The Maoists also want members of their armed faction, the so-called People's Liberation Army, to be part of a new national military. There has been no comment from the army command on that demand.

How to sequester the armed guerrillas during elections for a new Constitution remains one of the thorniest challenges before the new government and their foreign backers. "I think it can be done," said a diplomat in Katmandu. "The terms under which that's going to happen have got to be quite tough. It's a key issue."

Another issue is whether the referendum on a new Constitution will be "unconditional," as the Maoists insist, which would allow Nepal's citizens to decide whether they want a monarchy at all. Gyanendra, who ended up conceding far more than he initially wanted, will probably seek to preserve at least a ceremonial role for the monarchy.

But the loudest voices in the street protests brayed for the king to step down. "Burn the crown," was one of the favorite cries. Indeed, among Nepal's young, a vocal lobby had been calling for a democratic republic, with no king at its helm. That is also among the Maoists' chief demands.

Gyanendra, who seized complete control of the state nearly 15 months ago, agreed Monday to return power to the elected Parliament and to appoint Koirala as prime minister. His announcement capped three weeks of protests that prompted hundreds of thousands of Nepalese to pour into the streets and defy shoot-on-sight curfew orders.

The Maoists have promised to accept the results of a popular vote on the future of the monarchy.

The referendum on the Constitution was among the hallmarks of a 12-point agreement signed last autumn by the political parties and the rebels. Among the other points was a promise by the Maoists to place their armed troops under international supervision while elections were held and the formation of an interim government that would include Maoist representation.

"I am solely accountable to all the people and the seven parties, and my first commitment is to implement the road map and the 12-point understanding presented by the seven parties," Koirala said in the letter presented to Parliament on Friday.

The proposals for a constitutional vote, a cease-fire and talks with the Maoists are scheduled to be debated on Sunday.