Military

DATE=05/5/04

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

NUMBER=5-55266

TITLE=NEPAL/POLITICS

BYLINE=ANJANA PASRICHA

DATELINE=NEW DELHI

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: International donors meeting in Nepal are warning that failure

to resolve a political conflict and a communist insurgency in the

country could spell the government's downfall. As Anjana Pasricha

reports from New Delhi, the warning comes as Nepal is gripped by growing

protests demanding that King Gyanedra restore elected rule.

TEXT: It has been a daily ritual for more than a month in the Nepalese

capital, Kathmandu. Every afternoon, pro-democracy demonstrators pack

the city's streets, demanding the establishment of a multi-party

government. The rallies have often turned violent.

The wave of political protests has hit the country a year and a half

after King Gyanendra fired an elected prime minister, put off new

elections, and appointed a royalist administration. He has taken

executive power, and accuses the country's political parties of

incompetence and being unable to handle a Maoist rebellion in the

country.

Angry political parties say they will intensify the street protests

until the king hands back power to the people. Bharat Mohan Adhikari is

coordinator for the United Marxist-Leninist Communist party - one of the

five parties leading the month-long showdown.

He says all sections of society - students, academics, journalists,

lawyers and human rights activists - have joined the movement.

/// INSERT ADHIKARI ACT ///

Our protest is getting momentum. Every section of people are coming

out.. We have decided to continue this struggle unless and until our

rights are restored, sovereignty has been transferred by the king to the

people.

/// END ACT ///

King Gyanendra ascended the throne in 2001, after his predecessor, his

brother, and most of his family, were killed in a palace massacre. He

has a reputation for being tougher and more ambitious than his brother,

who gave up the monarchy's complete hold on power in 1990 after huge

street protests demanded multi-party democracy. The king also has the

support of the army.

Independent political analyst Lok Raj Baral says King Gyanendra's

failure to hold elections for a new Parliament has raised questions

about his commitment to democracy.

/// BARAL ACT ///

Monarchy wants to retain its own power on the basis of its own

traditional legitimacy but the political forces and the conscious

segments of society want to get that power and make people sovereign in

the real sense of the term.

/// END ACT ///

Analysts say the movement to restore democracy has wide support among

the people. But they say people also distrust Nepal's political parties,

which are weak, and must share blame for the present chaos in the

country.

Through the past decade, feeble governments changed frequently.

They were widely accused of being corrupt and blamed for allowing a

Maoist insurgency to take root in the countryside.

Yuvraj Ghimre, political editor of Nepal's Kantipur newspaper, says

expectations that democracy would improve people's lives never came

true.

/// GHIMRE ACT ///

There are apprehensions about the role of the king, as well as the role

of the political parties, because the political parties have also been

charged in the past with having made many compromises against the spirit

of the constitution for their narrow partisan gain.

/// END ACT ///

So far, political parties have rejected the King's appeals to call off

their protests, and his offer to hold elections by April next year. But

the pro-monarchy administration has made a concession to the protesters

by lifting a ban on demonstrations, paving the way for a dialogue

between the two sides.

The calls for reconciliation between the king and the political parties

are growing - both at home and in the international community.

Aid donors meeting in Nepal said this week that alarm bells have been

sounded in the international community that the tiny country may be

heading toward becoming a failed state. They said democracy is necessary

for Nepal's development.

The warning comes amid concerns that the deepening political crisis will

make it more difficult to control a Maoist insurgency that has killed

more than seven thousand people since it erupted in 1996. The Maoists

want to turn Nepal into a communist republic and abolish the monarchy.

Political analysts say it will not be possible to negotiate an end to

the Maoist rebellion until the King and parliamentary parties break

their deadlock. (signed)

NEB/HK/AP/KPD