| LamjungKunchha |
Posted
on 27-Aug-02 12:10 PM
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_52819,00050002.htm
Nepal will lift a state of emergency for November elections, but it could be re-established afterwards, Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba said on Tuesday.
"There will be no emergency during the election," he told reporters after talks in Brussels with European Commission President Romano Prodi.
Afterwards parliament would be asked to vote on re-imposing the state of emergency, in place since last November to help repress a Maoist insurgency.
"If we invoke emergency it would be ratified by two thirds of the parliament. I myself am for democracy," said Deuba.
He was responding after Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel said Monday, after talks with the Nepalese leader, that the state of emergency is to be lifted this week.
Deuba noted that Nepalese election rules allow for a one-month campaigning period ahead of the November 13 polls. "The emergency is only targetted to stop the .. terrorists," he said.
The state of emergency, which gives authorities sweeping powers to detain and interrogate suspected Maoist rebels and to impose curfews, was imposed by King Gyanendra on Deuba's advice after the guerrillas broke a four-month ceasefire with a flurry of attacks.
The Maoist insurgency, launched in 1996 for a communist republic, has so far claimed more than 4,300 lives in Nepal.
Prodi meanwhile said the European Union (EU) is to give 15 million euros per year in aid to Nepal over the next five years, to support democracy and help refugees.
"Even with a difficult situation, Nepal is working in the correct direction," he said, while adding: "We urge the prime minister to be as transparent as possible for the new elections."
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