Rebels declare three-month ceasefire in Nepal

Nepal’s communist rebels today declared a three-month halt in attacks, lifting a key burden on the new government poised to take control after weeks of bloody protests forced King Gyanendra to reinstate Parliament.

The elusive leader of the Himalayan country’s Maoist rebels, Prachanda, said in a statement that his group’s fighters would refrain from any assaults on government targets for three months to give the country a chance for peace.

“We declare a unilateral ceasefire for three months through this statement to express deep commitment to people’s desire for peace,” the statement said.

The announcement came a day before the reinstated Parliament was scheduled to reconvene in Kathmandu. It was expected to elect a new prime minister and initiate the process for electing a special assembly that would write a new constitution.

Until early this week, the country had been rocked by weeks of bloody anti-monarchy protests, organised by the opposition coalition of Nepal’s seven main political parties and backed by the rebels, to force King Gyanendra to relinquish control over the government.

Security forces firing on protesters killed 15 people before the king announced on Monday that he would meet a key demand of the parties by reinstating Parliament tomorrow and effectively hand power back to elected politicians.

The parties welcomed the move, but the rebels initially rejected the overture as a ruse for the king to hold onto his crown and warned the parties that their acceptance of the deal was a betrayal of previous agreements between the rebels and political parties. Both of them want to rewrite the constitution to limit the role of the monarchy – or eliminate it altogether.

However, by yesterday the rebels had softened their position, lifting a week-long blockade of key roads, and today’s announcement clearly reflected a willingness by the rebels to give the country’s politicians a chance to set up a constitutional convention.

The rebel’s cease-fire announcement followed a conversation between Prachanda and Girija Prasad Koirala, the man chosen by the country’s political parties to be the next interim prime minister.

The conversation helped ease misunderstandings between the two groups, said Koirala, a former prime minister.

The parties welcomed the rebel cease-fire.

“This will help bring the Maoists to the negotiating table for peace talks that could end the violent conflict,” said Gopalman Shrestha of the Nepali Congress Democratic.

Thousands of people began to gather meanwhile for a victory rally in central Kathmandu, at which political party leaders were scheduled to speak.

Waving red and white party flags, small groups of people headed toward the rally site – some in buses, others on open trucks, some even rode bicycles, but mostly they walked.

Hundreds of policemen in riot police were stationed near the rally site.

The rebels have made it clear that the cease-fire is for three months only and “with the intention to encourage the political parties to announce an unconditional special assembly”.

“Our fight will continue,” said Matrika Yadav, the highest-ranking Maoist leader imprisoned by the government.

The rebels are for now “being flexible in order to trust the parties” to help overthrow the king, Yadav said.

“If anyone goes against the people, their downfall is inevitable, whether it is the political parties or the monarchy or any force.”

The rebels have declared cease-fires three times, but none of them resulted in any significant progress toward a permanent peace.

The last was a unilateral cease-fire in September 2005 that lasted four months. They pulled out earlier this year, accusing the royalist government of failing to show any initiatives to resolve the conflict peacefully.

Soon after that, the rebels escalated attacks against government targets and troops.

The rebels, who claim to be inspired by Chinese revolutionary Mao Zedong, began their violent campaign to replace the monarchy with a communist state in 1996. The insurgency has left more than 13,000 dead.