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Nepal king calls for peace

Posted on: Saturday, 3 December 2005, 11:25 CST

KATHMANDU (Reuters) - Nepal's King Gyanendra, facing a Maoist revolt and politically isolated after snatching power, has called for peace but ignored a rebel truce many hope could lead to end years of war.

The King, who fired a multiparty government on February 1, is under pressure to restore democracy and match a temporary but unilateral cease-fire the Maoists declared in September.

The guerillas fighting for a communist state in the world's only Himalayan kingdom, extended the truce on Friday for another month in response to popular and political pressure.

But he made no comment about the truce. His government says the rebels use cease-fires to rearm and regroup.

"Restoration of a lasting peace and a meaningful exercise in multiparty democracy is what Nepal needs," the King said in a customary statement late on Friday after returning from a tour of Africa following a South Asian summit in Bangladesh last month.

More than 12,500 people, many civilians, have been killed in the Maoist conflict that has crippled the aid-dependent economy and scared away investors and tourists.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who urged the Maoists last week to extend the truce, has welcomed the move and has urged the royal government to declare its own cease-fire.

Nepal's key donors, including the United States, want the King to restore democracy and resume failed peace talks.

He has asked political parties, who have forged a loose understanding with the Maoists, to participate in municipal elections due on February 8.

"Any contribution toward strengthening this situation which will restore sustainable peace and enable the elected representatives to govern is praiseworthy," King Gyanendra said.

The parties have vowed to boycott the polls, calling them meaningless as long as the King holds absolute power.

Hours before King Gyanendra returned, tens of thousands of people marched in Kathmandu in a rally organized by the Communist Party of Nepal-UML, second largest party, to press him to return power to the parties.

Source: REUTERS

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