NEPAL: UN Role Key to Building Trust With Maoists

A United Nations mission aimed at forging consensus among Nepal's warring sides on the issue of arms management left the Himalayan kingdom Thursday without an agreement. However, the U.N.'s formal involvement is keeping hopes alive for a permanent solution to a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people.

POLITICS-NEPAL: No Farewell to Arms Yet, Maoists Tell UN

For a week now, a United Nations mission sent by Secretary General Kofi Annan has been huddled in the Nepalese capital trying to hammer out an agreement between the government and Maoists rebels on how to manage weapons for a durable peace. But the task is turning out to be tricky.

NEPAL: Community Forests Rise Above Obstacles

It's not easy being green, forestry activists in Nepal will tell you.

NEPAL: Emergency Food Op Starved for Donors

Scepticism among potential donors could ground a United Nations plan to deliver emergency food aid to villagers in Nepal's drought-hit northwest.

NEPAL: Maoist Makeover to Suit Democratic Times

In the official jargon of current Nepalese politics, armed Maoists who helped topple the world's only Hindu monarchy are no longer ‘rebels'. Neither are they 'terrorists' nor 'anti-government forces'. Instead, they are, to mainstream politicians, 'partners' and 'fellow travellers' in the mission to establish a new Nepali state.

NEPAL: King Depressed or Scheming?

Four months ago he was the one figure in Nepal everyone turned to for a solution to political deadlock. Today King Gyanendra is reduced to a shadow, although a persistent one, hovering over a delicate peace process being carried out by the government and Maoist rebels.

NEPAL: Political Rivalry Dogs Pro-people Budget

Nepal begins its new fiscal year on Monday with the stated intention of spending nearly two billion US dollars, much of it on boosting social services.

NEPAL: Citizens Rush to Reform

Most people who rushed to Laxman Prasad Aryal's office before Thursday's deadline had one demand for the constitution drafter: declare Nepal a republic. Members of parliament, on the other hand, were showing no signs they are serious about reform, Aryal told IPS on Thursday.

NEPAL: Will UN Involvement Help Peace Process?

The collective sigh of relief heard around the capital last week, as reports of possible United Nations involvement in a tenuous peace process came in, is a sign of just how much faith ordinary Nepalis place in the world body.

NEPAL: Excluded, Women Seek International Advice

On the evening of Jun 23, lawyer and activist Sapana Pradhan Malla confided to IPS that the deputy prime minister had just told a group of women occupying his office that the committee drafting an interim constitution would be expanded to include two women.

POLITICS-NEPAL: Mistrust Clouds Tenuous Peace Process

On paper at least, the path to permanent peace in Nepal looks pretty simple: institute an interim government with rebel Maoist participation, hold constituent assembly elections, and ensure that the elected assembly writes a new constitution that not only decides the fate of the monarchy but also eliminates exclusionary policies which have fuelled much of the unrest.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: Indigenous People Welcome UN Declaration

Early last century, Parshuram Tamang's ancestors hiked Nepal's jungle trails carrying on their backs disassembled motor cars, the first driven by the elite of this landlocked South Asian nation. Their labour was welcome but their rights few. They weren't allowed to travel outside the country or join the bureaucracy.

NEPAL: Displaced Face Uncertain Return

At least tens of thousands of Nepalis have fled their homes during a Maoist uprising and now that peace has come, many are pondering a return. But it is not easy: no government programmes pave their way, many of their homes need repairs while long-neglected fields require work before planting, and locals must first assuage Maoist gatekeepers.

NEPAL: Women Won’t Let This Slight Pass

It was just another empty promise. That is how senior women politicians and activists are feeling after being shut out of ad hoc committees designing the 'new Nepal', less than a month after parliament proclaimed it would fight for women's rights.

NEPAL: PM, Maoist Chief Sit Together

Nepal's veteran, centrist prime minister, the surprise leader of the "people's government" born from April's uprising, on Friday, met the chief of the country's powerful Maoist rebels, who has decided to trade in guns for elections after a decade of armed struggle.

NEPAL: Capital Tastes Villagers’ Fear

Nepal's capital felt like one of the country's thousands of villages - overwhelmed and anxious - as Maoist rebels rode into town, Friday.

NEPAL: Revolution Reaches Out to Women

The revolution continues in Nepal. But more than a month after the people chased the king from power, sober second thought has taken its place on streets that once thronged with marching, chanting citizens.

NEPAL: Labour Demands Say in Reforms

Workers - 1, World Bank - 0. The Bank has long urged Nepal's governments to amend the country's labour laws in order to cut the cost of doing business and boost investment, a move that would also weaken workers' status, argue trade union officials.

NEPAL: Drought Prompts First Ever Emergency Food Op

The United Nations World Food Programme is planning its first ever emergency food operation in Nepal to counter a severe drought in the country's northwestern hills and mountains.

NEPAL: Downsizing the Monarchy

With Maoist rebels breathing down their necks, Nepal's parliamentarians prepared Thursday to downsize the monarchy and strip the king of his traditional role as army chief.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: Under Democracy, Activists Want More From UN

Justice will be done for those killed and injured in April's revolution, pledged Nepal's new government last Friday, taking a radical step towards ending the impunity that has long cloaked human rights abusers in this violence-wracked nation.