Nepal rebel leader repeats call for peace talks

0 Comments | Asian Political News, July 22, 2002

KATHMANDU, July 19 Kyodo

The leader of Nepal's Maoist rebels, who are waging an armed insurrection in the Himalayan kingdom, has reiterated his call for peace talks with the government.

Chairman of the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) Prachanda said Thursday in a statement that his party would ''seriously make a strong appeal to all pro-people forces for seeking a resolution to the problem through talks and dialogue.''

''Talks, dialogue, and an interim government as well as an electoral process under the leadership of the interim government, would form the minimum basis for the resolution of the problem for the present,'' the Maoist chief said in the statement, which was published by major Nepalese newspapers Friday.

The rebel leader also called on all political parties to oppose the state of emergency imposed last November to crush the rebels.

On the mid-November elections, the underground party has long held the position that it would oppose them and seek to upset them.

In May, King Gyanendra dissolved parliament and announced general elections for Nov. 13, apparently giving Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba a free hand to take tough measures against the Communist rebellion without parliamentary interference.

The move came hours after Deuba's ruling Nepali Congress Party rejected his plan to extend the state of emergency. The government later renewed it.

The rebels held three rounds of peace talks with the Deuba government last year, but they then walked out of negotiations saying the government was nowhere near meeting the Maoist demand to scrap the country's constitutional monarchy.

The government responded by imposing a state of emergency in late November and ordering its regular army to fight the rebels.

Eight months later, the government has made claims the army scored huge successes over the rebels, making a big dent in the latter's capability to fight or launch major attacks.

Although being resolute in his refusal to hold any more peace talks until the rebels surrender their arms, Deuba has come under pressure from the international community to soften his posture and start new negotiations.

The rebels may be more eager to talk because they have lost both domestic and external support for their campaign of violence and terror in the once peaceful mountain kingdom.

Prachanda's statement came in the wake of an Indian government's crackdown on the Maoist network in India and threats to deport senior Nepalese rebel leaders who are believed to have taken shelter in India.

The outlawed Maoist party took up arms against government forces in 1996 to topple the constitutional monarchy and multiparty rule.

More than 5,000 Nepalese, mostly rebels and police, have been killed since the outbreak of the insurgency.