Nepal set to become world's newest republic today

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(China Daily)
Updated: 2008-05-28 07:49

Nepal stood on the brink of becoming the world's newest republic yesterday as an assembly charged with ending 239 years of royal rule was sworn in amid tight security.

But with the world's last Hindu king still in the pink-hued, 1970s-era concrete palace that dominates central Katmandu, political leaders were threatening to remove him by force.

"He has no choice, but if he refuses to leave the palace we will use the law to force him out of there," said Baburam Bhattarai, the deputy leader of the former Maoist rebels.

Getting rid of the king, however, is in many ways the least of the new government's problems, as evidenced by a string of bombings that hit Katmandu over the past two days, all apparently aimed at pro-republic politicians and activists.

While the four bombings only wounded two people, they underscored how difficult it will be to fashion lasting peace and bring widespread prosperity to this Himalayan land that was bled for a decade by the Maoist insurgency and is still regularly bloodied by political violence.

Yesterday's swearing in of 575 lawmakers - another 26 are to be appointed later - marked a major step in the peace process that ended the insurgency and the culmination of the former rebels' transformation from an army into a political force.

They won the most seats in April's election for the assembly and have promised to bring sweeping change to Nepal, a largely impoverished country.

First up when the assembly gets down to work today is doing away with the Shah dynasty, which dates to 1769 when a regional ruler conquered Katmandu and united Nepal.

A "republic will be declared tomorrow," Bhattarai said after the swearing in. "Once republic is declared the king will automatically lose his position and place in the palace."

After that, they've declared a three-day holiday. But once the celebrations end, no one is certain what will happen with the Maoists still struggling to form a government, and political violence still persistent.

The chief of the UN mission in Nepal, Ian Martin, warned yesterday the violence threatens the peace process and criticized Nepal's politicians for doing little to stop it.

Politically motivated killings have been committed by virtually every major political force since the Maoists gave up their fight, and Martin said he hoped that now "there can be a new commitment to justice and law and order from all political parties."

Even in victory, the Maoists worry many in Nepal. They still have 20,000 fighters in UN-monitored camps spread across the country and their former fighters were recently implicated in the abduction and murder of a Katmandu businessman.

Ahead of today's declaration of a republic, the Maoists' youth wing was bringing 20,000 of its own people to Katmandu to "make sure the celebration does not get out of hand," said Sagar, the group's leader in the capital, who goes by a single name.

Authorities, meanwhile, deployed some 10,000 police around the city yesterday, a day after banning protests near the convention center and palace.

Agencies

(China Daily 05/28/2008 page12)