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on 13-Nov-03 03:59 PM
http://www.thedailystar.net/2003/11/14/d31114430198.htm AFP Maoist rebels and Nepal's mainstream parties have agreed to discuss closing ranks to demand King Gyanendra call new elections after he sacked the elected government last year, political leaders said yesterday. The rebels, who want to overthrow the monarchy, have appointed Ram Bahadur Thapa, the commander of their self-styled "People's Liberation Army," to negotiate with leaders of the five major parties. "So far we have been fighting... separately, but now we feel it is time for the five political parties and the Maoist party to fight unitedly," Thapa, known by the alias Badal, said in a statement. Badal said without elaborating that he and party leaders had held initial talks which were "positive." The five parties, whose months of street demonstrations have done little to change the king's mind, decided at a meeting earlier this week to talk to the Maoists about potentially joining forces. An alliance would be a dramatic turnaround after years of hostility between the Maoists and the parties that participated in the now-dissolved parliament. Party leaders estimate around 400 of their activists, viewed by the rebels as part of the elite, have been killed by the Maoists since the insurgency broke out in 1996. In a sign of the lingering tension between the two sides, former prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala, who heads the largest party the Nepali Congress, said the rebels needed to disarm before any alliance. "We want the Maoists to lay down their arms so we can launch an effective movement against the king's regressive steps," Koirala told a rally Thursday in Janakpur, 268 kilometers (167 miles) south of Kathmandu. The five parties named Madhav Kumar Nepal, their consensus prime ministerial candidate, and far-left leader Amik Serchan to talk to the Maoists, Nepal Peasants and Workers Party chief Narayan Man Bijukchhe, who took part in the parties' discussions, told AFP. Rebel supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal in a statement did not comment on disarmament but assured the parties that the guerrillas, whose literature calls for a one-party communist republic, would respect other parties. "Nobody should have any doubt that we accept multi-party democracy," said Dahal, better known by the nom de guerre Prachanda, or "The Fierce." "We appeal to all parties, civil society and intellectuals to join the fight against the Unified Security Command which is the design of US President (George W.) Bush to target India and China and destroy the Nepalese people's unity," he said. The Unified Security Command, which has also been criticised by the major parties, puts the army in charge of all counter-insurgency operations. It was set up by the royal-appointed government after the Maoists broke a seven-month ceasefire on August 27. |