Nepal rebels try talks, not guns

The government of Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand, who resigned last week, citing a desire to help end the political unrest, has been close-lipped about the peace process.

"We do not believe in ... talking to each other through the press," says Ramesh Nath Pandey, minister of information and communication. "But ... progress is satisfactory, and we will build up confidence.... If they are earnest, this is the safest way to find a lasting peace."

Madhav Kumar Nepal - who heads the largest opposition party in parliament, the United Marxist-Leninist wing of the Communist Party, and is considered to be the front runner for prime minister - says the Maoists' cease-fire is welcome. But he calls for "a real dialogue on real issues," including the "illegal" intervention of the king into parliamentary politics. Last year, King Gyanendra replaced the elected prime minister with Mr. Chand, and maintained a harsh state of emergency that suspended many civil liberties.

"We asked the Maoists to not break the cease-fire and go back to the jungle, but rather, unite with other opposition parties and make people aware of the dishonesty of the government," says Mr. Nepal. "They should raise their voices peacefully ... rather than use terror."

During the past year, Maoists have attacked government buildings and schools, kidnapped and killed police, civil servants, and teachers, and sabotaged power stations and roads. This behavior has pushed the US to put the Maoists on their terrorist watch list.

The US has applied pressure in other ways, giving $4 million to Nepal for military training and officer exchanges and $12 million for the purchase of small arms. Yet US policy toward Nepal is tilted more toward development, with $38 million for programs for the US Agency for International Development.

"Putting them on the watch list is a way of saying, 'Let's see how they behave,'" says Constance Jones, spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Kathmandu. "They could take themselves off the list by their actions."

But Mr. Karki, leader of the nonprofit coalition, holds a dim view for the prospect of lasting peace. The Maoists are so convinced they are right, he says, that "they don't really listen to criticism," even from their own people.

Nobody questions, for instance, that Nepal's poorest citizens have been deprived of development for so long that a rebellion was almost inevitable. The disagreement comes over the solution: should Nepal be turned into a parliamentary democracy or an authoritarian communist government that uses repression to change society radically into a egalitarian, if brutal, society.

"If we had elections after the peace talks, the Maoists would not win, because the people are angry with them - they didn't deliver on their promises," says Karki. "So there won't be elections. It will all just go back to war. "

Page: 1 | 2