Nepal

On 14 September, Nepal’s tortuous peace process entered a new phase as the Maoists and the other main parties agreed to extend the peace process, pledging to “take up the remaining tasks of the peace process” and complete them by 14 January 2011 (they were meant to have been concluded by May 2010).
The breakthrough came with concessions by both the Maoists and the establishment parties. In a rebuff to the Nepali army, which had been campaigning to restrict the mandate of the UN mission…

The political deadlock in Nepal is now moving towards a military outcome as the peace process disintegrates. The Nepal army, which earlier halted the faltering process by refusing to integrate 19,000 Maoist guerrillas, as required by the 2006 comprehensive peace accord, began recruiting new non-Maoist soldiers on 2 August. The Maoist People’s Liberation Army responded the next day by announcing 12,000 vacancies.
The UN Mission to Nepal (UNMIN), due to disband in September, responded: “…

Nepal narrowly avoided a breakdown of its rickety peace process on 28 May, when the deadline for a new constitution ran out. Literally at the eleventh hour, one hour before midnight, the Maoists rescued the political system by agreeing to a one-year extension, despite a continuing lack of consensus on how to integrate former Maoist guerrillas into the Nepali security forces.
The 28 May written agreement was only reached because of a verbal commitment by the present prime minister…

On 22 May, a small “fire-cracker type” bomb detonated in front of the Nepali constituent assembly building in Kathmandu. No one was injured. According to police, an unexploded socket bomb was also found, along with leaflets from a previously-unknown group “Dynamic Youth Forum Nepal”, demanding the resignation of the present government and the creation of a national unity government. Meanwhile, Nepal remained in a state of political crisis, with the mandate of the deadlocked constituent…

As PN went to press, the Nepal peace process entered a state of crisis. On 16 April, the government tore up the comprehensive peace accord that ended the Nepali civil war in November 2006, as the five parties which dominate the coalition government agreed to integrate only 3,000 of the 19,600 Maoist ex-guerrillas recognised by the UN.
The parties justified their decision by referring to the 3,475 weapons handed in by the Maoists, now held in UN-sealed containers, saying: “one weapon,…

The dire state of the stagnating Nepali peace process provoked a visit from straight-talking UN undersecretary-general for political affairs, B. Lynn Pascoe.
In Kathmandu on 11 March, Pascoe pointed out that 50% of countries return to war within 10 years of a peace agreement being signed. Pascoe highlighted the question of “the future of the two armies”: the largely-unreformed royalist army, and the 19,600 Maoist guerrillas still living in UN-monitored camps “that were intended to last…

The clock is ticking. Nepal’s fractious political parties only have until 28 May to restructure the Nepali state, write a new constitution, and integrate around 15,000 former Maoist guerrillas into the Nepali security forces. The army, which is very resistant, wants the police force to take many of them.
4,008 Maoist fighters have been ruled out of integration by the UN, either because they were children at the time of the May 2006 ceasefire or because they joined up after that date.…

In early December, police attacked unauthorised communities in the Dudhejhadi forest in Kailali district, western Nepal, killing five squatters and destroying thousands of homes. One police officer was also killed. Maoists launched strikes and traffic stoppages in response, demanding compensation and permanent homes for all the squatters, who are Dalits (“untouchables”).
Elsewhere, on 11 January, unknown gunmen attacked a government office in Birgunj, in the Terai in southern Nepal,…

Alarm was raised about the state of the Nepali peace process on 20 November, the third anniversary of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) which brought ten years of bitter civil war to an end. Karin Landgren, head of the United Nations Mission in Nepal, warned: “Day-to-day politics, including internal party politics, have consumed so much energy that it has left major issues on the back burner.”
13 Western governments (and the EU) signed a joint statement stating: “We are…

The Nepali peace process is now under enormous pressure as the government seeks the renegotiation of the 2006 peace accord (to disadvantage the Maoist former guerrillas), and the Maoists block the passing of the national budget in a tangled civilian-military dispute.
Defence minister Bidhya Devi Bhandari said on 22 October that the comprehensive peace accord (CPA) must be reviewed “no matter what anyone says”.
She claimed that the CPA might have damaged the Nepali army’s…

I thought this would be a vox pop bit in Peace News but as it goes, I am beginning to feel weirder and weirder about walking around with a pen and a little notebook in my hand asking people questions about their lives.

I had it all planned; I was to do what I generally like doing best anyway – wander around the village early in the morning, say my usual “namaste” to all, most of whom are small land holding farmers.

Last week I received some ripe cucumbers and pears from…

On 28 May king Gyanendra became the last king of Nepal, bringing an end to the 239-year-old-monarchy. He was peacefully deposed as Nepal became a federal republic, following the recent election of the Maoists to government.

The ex-king left the Narayanhiti palace on 11 June. The palace will now become a state museum. Before leaving, Gyandendra called his first ever press conference, where journalists “heckled him with the rudest words in the Nepali language”, the Telegraph reported…

Nepal's hopes of a successful peace process depend on constituent assembly elections scheduled for 10 April. These are in doubt as the result of violence and intimidation. The Maoists have been accused of such activities.
More seriously, on 16 March, nonMaoist armed groups from the lowland Terai region threatened bombings and attacks on candidates should the government not agree to talks. Two days later Kamal Prasad Adhikari of the communist National People's Front Nepal was shot dead…

Not only did the Nepali democracy movement manage to effectively de-throne the hated King Gyanendra (see p4), but an historic ruling in December saw the Supreme Court legitimise gay rights in the Kingdom. The landmark judgement came after four activists from the Blue Diamond Society - Nepal's only organisation fighting for the rights of sexual minorities - filed a public interest litigation back in May 2007.

Not only did judges order the enactment of new laws protecting the rights…

The demonstrations had been going for a couple of days, and my middle class ass was feeling impatient to join "the masses" and engage in the united protests against over 230 years of medieval tyranny in Nepal.

Attempts at gathering people for a candlelight vigil after curfew hours at the Infoshop failed. Only the singer of our band showed up; everyone else was afraid. Our pro-royalist neighbour expressed his dissatisfaction at the candles, and we thought he was going to turn us in…