/ 2 May 2006

Nepal’s return to democracy hits a snag

Nepal’s path back to democracy turned rocky on Tuesday as political divisions broke into the open and protesters demanded that legislators move faster to ensure the king can never grab power again.

New Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala announced the core of a Cabinet that must try to negotiate peace with Maoist rebels, rejuvenate the economy and undo all of the autocratic actions taken since King Gyanendra seized control in February last year.

But the contentious negotiations resulting in the seven-man Cabinet underscored the challenges of maintaining unity in the seven-party alliance that led three weeks of often-bloody protests which forced the monarch to return power to the elected Parliament a week ago.

Even the Communist Party of Nepal, which got the plum deputy prime minister’s slot, showed signs of internal dissent. Pradeep Nepal quit as a senior member of the party’s standing committee, citing policy differences.

About 200 protesters tried to force their way through the iron gates outside Parliament, demanding prompt action on a raft of key issues. A phalanx of police and troops kept them at bay.

The Cabinet includes four members of Koirala’s Nepali Congress party, and one each from the Communist Party of Nepal, the Nepali Congress Democratic and the United Left Front.

The new, smaller Cabinet — the outgoing one had 34 members — is meant to streamline the inefficient bureaucracy. Other members of the seven-party alliance are expected to get appointments later.

The ailing 84-year-old Koirala, sworn in on Sunday for his fifth stint as prime minister, named Khadga Prasad Oli of the Communist Party Nepal as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister.

”It was an understanding and a compromise to have Oli as the deputy prime minister,” said Ram Chandra Poudel, a senior Nepali Congress member. ”There are seven parties in the alliance, and that is why it took so long to reach an understanding.”

The Communist Party Nepal is a mainstream group and unrelated to the extremist Maoist rebels, who played a key role in the push to end the king’s absolute power and appear headed for a role in the political mainstream.

”The way we’ll try to achieve our goals would be on the basis of the agreement between the seven parties and the Maoists,” Koirala, looking very week, said in brief remarks as he swore in the Cabinet.

The ceremony was held in Koirala’s office, a departure from the tradition of administering the oaths at the royal palace.

Krishna Sitaula was picked as Home Minister, while Ram Sharan Mahat was named Finance Minister. Both are from the Nepali Congress party.

In addition to all of the political challenges, Mahat bemoaned the state of the economy. ”We have a real financial crisis, and this crisis has to be managed,” he said. ”We have to forward a new agenda because our state fund is in the negative.”

The royal palace’s announcement of the new Cabinet came an hour before Parliament — which opened its first session in four years last Friday — convened to tackle an overflowing agenda of high-priority proposals.

They include declaring a truce with the Maoists, who announced a unilateral three-month ceasefire last week, and setting up the nuts and bolts for the election of an assembly to rewrite the Constitution. The king is expected to be stripped of much of his authority, including control of the military.

The Cabinet also will investigate who gave the orders for security forces to crack down brutally on demonstrations. At least 17 protesters died.

Top United States and Norwegian diplomats arrived on Tuesday for the first visits by senior foreign officials since Gyanendra ceded power last week.

Richard Boucher, US assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, is to spend two days in Nepal, while Norwegian Development Cooperation Minister Erik Solheim is to make a three-day visit.

Solheim has been acting as a peace negotiator in Sri Lanka. It was unclear whether he would become involved in talks expected between Nepal’s government and the Maoists. — Sapa-AP

Associated Press writer Binaj Gurubacharya contributed to this report