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Posted
on 30-Aug-01 10:37 AM
Nepal's government and Maoist guerrillas have described their first ever substantive peace talks as positive and cordial.
Our demands are that Nepal be declared a republic state, a new constitution be drafted and an interim government be established
Maoist delegation leader
In a joint statement after meeting at Godavari, south of the capital Kathmandu, the two sides said they were committed to resolving their differences peacefully and would meet again within two weeks at an undisclosed venue.
Maoist leader Krishna Bahadur Mohara told journalists the guerrillas had presented their demands, but had received no immediate response from the government.
The two sides agreed to the talks last month in an attempt to end a violent five-year uprising that has claimed about 1,800 lives.
The BBC's Daniel Lak in Kathmandu says the commitment to resume dialogue is a positive first step, although there is little common ground between them.
Rebel demands
Earlier, the Maoists' three negotiators received a hero's welcome when they arrived in the town of Kirtipur, south of the capital, close to where the talks are taking place.
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and the rebels called a truce in July.
The Maoists' demands include rewriting the constitution, abolishing Nepal's constitutional monarchy and establishing an interim government.
The prime minister has made it clear he will not compromise on the constitutional monarchy.
Hammer and sickle
The town of Kirtipur, about 15 kilometres (nine miles) south of the capital, was decked in red hammer and sickle flags and banners saying "Welcome to our Maoist heroes".
The Maoists received heroes' welcomes
About a dozen police officers watched but did nothing about a gathering that would have been illegal and ended in violence just a few weeks ago.
Before the talks Mr Mohara told the crowd that the insurgency would resume if negotiations failed.
"Our demands are that Nepal be declared a republic state, a new constitution be drafted and an interim government be established leading to transition of power in the country," he said at a public meeting on Wednesday.
Our correspondent said the Maoists' uprising has entered a new phase, largely because of the massacre of most of the Nepalese royal family in June.
Many people are convinced that political change cannot be far behind such a traumatic event and they are looking to these talks to bring that about peacefully.
But with the army now deployed in many Maoist controlled areas and the two sides so far apart on their bargaining positions, more bloodshed is thought likely, our correspondent said.
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Posted
on 30-Aug-01 10:44 AM
They said in a joint statement that both sides were committed to resolving their differences peacefully. Negotiators agreed to meet again within two weeks, but did not set a date.
''We presented our agenda ... demanding a republic state, a new constitution and an interim government to oversee transition of power in the country,'' Krishna Bahadur Mohara, a rebel leader, told reporters after the meeting at a resort town nine miles outside the capital, Katmandu.
''The government side has said they will discuss our demands before the next talks,'' Mohara said.
Last month, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba declared a cease-fire in police operations against the rebels and invited them for talks. The guerrillas responded by halting attacks on police.
More than 1,700 rebels, security personnel and civilians have died in the fighting since the Maoist elusive leader, ''Prachanda,'' which means ''fierce'' in Nepali, began his campaign in 1996.
The government is unwilling to change the system of constitutional monarchy adopted in 1990 after a democratic movement toppled the absolute monarchy.
''We are going with an open agenda, but there will be no compromise on the constitutional monarchy or parliamentary democracy,'' Deuba said Wednesday.
The rebels also want an end to the feudal structure that remains in some parts of the Hindu kingdom.
The Maoists run a parallel administration in at least six of Nepal's 75 districts. Many jobless youths, tired of poverty and government corruption, have joined the guerrillas.
The rebels are popular in their strongholds for their quick justice and efficient governance.
During the talks, Mohara led the Maoist delegation, which also included Top Bahadur Rayamajhi and Agni Prasad Sapkota.
The government team included Chiranjivi Wagle, minister for physical planning, Minister for Agriculture Mahesh Acharya, Minister for Water Resources Bijaya Gachchedar and Nepali Congress party members Narhari Acharya and Chakra Bastola.
''The talks were cordial and it gave us a chance to understand each other,'' said Wagle.
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Posted
on 30-Aug-01 10:45 AM
The encounter was the first formal dialogue between the two sides since the Maoist rebels began their violent campaign five years ago to topple poverty-stricken Nepal's constitutional monarchy and install a communist republic.
''The talks were held in a cordial atmosphere,'' the rebels and the government said in a joint statement after the meeting held at a luxury resort on the outskirts of the capital.
''It was a good start,'' rebel negotiator Agni Prasad Sapkota told reporters. He said the rebels had called for ''an interim government, a new constitution and the institutional development of a republic'' in the picturesque country wedged between China and India.
A government spokesman said the centrist government was ''satisfied'' with the initial round of talks but did not give its response to the rebel demands.
''We have taken the talks as a positive step toward resolving the Maoist problem peacefully,'' cabinet spokesman Jayaprakash Prasad Gupta told reporters.
CALLED TRUCE
More than 1,800 people have died since the rebels began their ''people's war.'' The conflict had escalated sharply in recent months before both sides called a truce.
Chief rebel negotiator Krishna Bahadur Mahara had said he would press for a one-party communist republic in the meeting with the government's main negotiator, Physical Planning and Works Minister Chiranjivi Wagle.
The government had said it was opposed to the party's demand for a communist republic but was willing to talk about land reform and measures to fight widespread poverty and corruption.
The talks came five weeks after Sher Bahadur Deuba became prime minister and invited the rebels for negotiations. The invitation followed a wave of rebel hit-and-run attacks on police posts in which dozens of security personnel were killed.
The surge of violence followed the June massacre of most of the royal family, including King Birendra, by a drunken Crown Prince Dipendra.
CHANCE FOR PEACE
In the past five years, the revolt has spread from a few remote districts to almost all parts of the country.
''This chance for peace through the negotiating table in place of guns is one that must not be thrown away,'' said an editorial in the English-language Kathmandu Post. It urged the government to try to accommodate as many rebel demands as possible.
Mainstream political parties made a last-ditch appeal late on Wednesday to the government and the rebels to show ''utmost seriousness'' to make the talks a success.
The rebellion has hobbled economic growth and delayed development projects, government officials say.
Nepal, home to some of the world's highest peaks including Mount Everest, is visited every year by tens of thousands of trekkers and climbers.
The rebels have said foreign visitors were not their targets.
Nepal established a constitutional monarchy and multi-party democracy after weeks of violent street protests in 1990.
Last year, a government minister met the rebels informally but efforts to get formal dialogue started were blocked by a row over the release of two jailed Maoists.
The rebels had earlier proposed that a second and third round of meetings be held on September 10 and 25.
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Posted
on 30-Aug-01 10:48 AM
KATHMANDU, Aug. 30 — The Nepali government and Maoist rebels pledged on Thursday to meet again following landmark peace talks that both sides described as cordial.
''The talks were held in a cordial atmosphere,'' the rebels and the government said in a joint statement after the one-day meeting at a luxury resort on the outskirts of the Himalayan kingdom's capital.
It was the first formal encounter between the two sides since the rebels began their bloody campaign to topple poverty-stricken Nepal's constitutional monarchy five years ago and install a one-party communist republic.
''It was a good start,'' rebel negotiator Agni Prasad Sapkota told reporters.
He said the rebels had put forth their demand for ''an interim government, a new constitution and the institutional development of a republic.'' He declined to disclose the government response and a government spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
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Posted
on 30-Aug-01 12:27 PM
An immense wave could one day wreak havoc on the eastern seaboard of the US and elsewhere around the Atlantic.
It's entirely possible you'd see 50-metre waves coming ashore in Florida, New York, Boston, all the way up to Greenland, and in some cases reaching up to 10 km inland
Dr Simon Day
Scientists say a volcanic eruption on the Canary Islands, off West Africa, could trigger a vast undersea landslide.
This would set off a tsunami wave capable of inundating coastal regions thousands of kilometres away.
But the disaster is unlikely to strike this century.
The warning comes from Dr Steven Ward, of the University of California, US, and Dr Simon Day, of the Benfield Greig Hazard Research Centre at University College London, UK.
Writing in Geophysical Research Letters, they refine an earlier estimate of the likely consequences of the collapse of the western flank of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the island of La Palma in the Canaries.
Record heights
They believe a build-up of groundwater could destabilise a block of rock up to 500 cubic km in size, which could break off in a future eruption, rushing into the sea at up to 350 km an hour (220 mph).
The energy released by the collapse would equal the entire US electricity consumption for six months.
The dome of water it caused would be 900 metres (2,950 feet) high, and the resulting tsunami, higher than any in recorded history, would travel outwards, reaching speeds of 800 km an hour (500 mph).
Waves 100 m (330 ft) from crest to trough would strike the African coast, while north-eastwards they would affect Spain, Portugal and France, and could still be approaching 12 m (40 ft) when they hit the UK.
That is almost three times the maximum recorded after the Lisbon earthquake of 1755.
Dr Day said the waves striking the UK coast would not penetrate more than two or three kilometres inland.
But he told BBC News Online: "Weird things happen when tsunamis enter harbours or estuaries.
"If those resonate at a certain frequency, that may substantially increase the damage."
Many centuries
Across the Atlantic the damage would be far worse, with wave heights of more than 40 m (130 ft) expected in northern Brazil.
Dr Day said: "It's entirely possible you'd see 50-m waves coming ashore in Florida, New York, Boston, all the way up to Greenland, and in some cases reaching up to 10 km inland.
"And that would be about nine hours or more after the initial collapse."
Dr Simon Day: This may not happen for many centuries
The ensuing economic losses would probably be in trillions of dollars, even if there were enough warning to evacuate threatened areas and avoid massive loss of human life.
If the speed of the landslide proved to be 150 metres per second (490 feet per second), not the 100 m/s (330 ft/s) assumed, that could double the height of the waves reaching the US.
But Dr Day had some reassurance on the probable timescale of the catastrophe.
He said a collapse was unlikely this century, and perhaps for many centuries.
It could take several eruptions to destabilise the volcano enough to dislodge the western flank, and collapse would occur only after days or weeks of seismic activity.
He told BBC News Online: "We think you have to see some evidence of subterranean movement before there's a risk of collapse.
"The fact that we aren't seeing any movement gives us a lot of confidence Cumbre Vieja won't collapse spontaneously.
"But we've found that eruptions do tend to come in clusters. And there've been two in the recent past."
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