POLITICS-NEPAL: A Deal’s Not Enough

By Marty Logan Reprint | | Print |

Marty Logan

KATHMANDU, Nov 7 2006 (IPS) - Since Monday, small groups of journalists and onlookers have stood for hours at a time on the roadside outside the Nepali prime minister’s house waiting for word of a deal between the government and former Maoist rebels. But keeping a sitting vigil on the street, civil society leaders say a breakthrough will mean the hard work is just beginning.

“More challenging than arms management is social management,” says indigenous leader Malla K Sundar. “Still (politicians) will have lots of challenges. For example, how will they restructure the state?”

April’s “people’s movement” here succeeded because Nepalis from all walks of life, both urban and rural, united in the hundreds of thousands against the autocratic King Gyanendra. Pushing them forward was a desire, publicly championed by Maoist leaders, to remake this patriarchal, largely traditional society into a nation where women, ethnic people and other “disadvantaged groups” would get their fair share.

According to a deal signed by the Maoists and an alliance of seven major political parties (SPA) one year ago, the people’s movement would be followed by the writing of an interim constitution that would guide a temporary government, which would organise elections to an inclusive constituent assembly. That body would draft the law of the land for the ‘new Nepal’.

Soon after King Gyanendra returned power to parliament, phrases like “inclusive democracy” and “federal republic” swirled in the air above the capital Kathmandu. But in the last few months, people’s focus has turned to cementing a deal between the Maoists and government, both of which declared ceasefires after the king stepped down.

As many as 14,000 people are said to have died in 10 years of fighting between a rebel army, which came to control most of Nepal outside of the capital and the nation’s few other cities, and security forces. Many more were wounded and displaced because of threats from both sides. Roughly 1,000 Nepalis disappeared and remain unaccounted for.

A deal that would see the Maoists hang up their guns has been “imminent” for more than a month. Exactly how and where to store rebel weapons and what the future of the monarchy should be are the issues that continue to delay a final handshake between Prime Minister Girija Koirala and Maoist leader Prachanda.

Early Monday it appeared those disagreements had ended. The weapons would be placed in storage at several camps that would house the Maoist army, the key would be handed to Maoist leaders and a surveillance system directly linked to the United Nations office here would be installed. The first meeting of the elected constituent assembly would be tasked with deciding the future of the monarchy, according to several “inside sources”.

But according to local news reports Monday, at least one SPA member was insisting on a referendum to decide if Nepal’s royalty would remain and other parties were bargaining for positions in the interim government and its cabinet.

“The country is looking forward to hear good news…the first priority should be to guarantee fundamental freedoms, human rights and social justice,” said senior leader Krishna Pahadi of the Citizens Movement for Democracy and Peace (CMDP) sitting on the street outside the prime minister’s residence.

He insisted that even ceremonial monarchy should not be considered in the new political structure. “In Nepal, monarchy is the source of anarchy. Ceremonial monarchy would be just as bad as the reformed panchayat,” said Pahadi referring by name to the dying years of the political system before democracy was restored by 1990’s “people’s movement”.

While the attention of Kathmandu’s elite has been on peace talks, ordinary people – particularly those living on the capital’s fringes – are being forced to house Maoist supporters arriving from out of town for a mass meeting that begins Wednesday. “They asked us to feed 10 cadres and give them shelter from 8-10 November,” said one man quoted in Tuesday’s Himalayan Times newspaper. Others said Maoists threatened them when they hesitated to accept the suggestion.

Prachanda, who was among Maoist leaders given amnesty when the government removed the party’s “terrorist” label in May, will be the meeting’s main speaker, according to the report.

In the past few months Maoist cadres have stepped up their collection of “donations” from residents and business people, arguing that the party needs the cash to buy food for its army. They have also continued kidnapping Nepalis for various alleged offences and blocking the work of development agencies, despite signing a ceasefire code of conduct that outlaws such activities.

Many indigenous leaders have long said that they support the Maoists’ goal of delivering social justice, but reject their methods. They support, for example, a proposal to create a federal system of autonomous regions based on the population of indigenous groups. These groups officially account for about 25 million people but the real number could be as high as 50 percent.

But now, said Sundar, the former rebels might even be backing away from the excluded. “Even the Maoists are going for a mixed (electoral) system. Previously they were proposing proportional representation. If they don’t stick with that promise, the assembly will be more exclusive.”