Nepal celebrates peace agreement

Nepal celebrated the end of a bloody 10-year insurgency by declaring a public holiday today, as the international community hailed the deal under which communist rebels will join an interim government.

Prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist rebel leader Prachanda signed the accord yesterday at a Kathmandu convention hall packed with cheering officials, dignitaries and foreign diplomats.

The agreement came after months of negotiations that centred on how to disarm the insurgents and bring them into the government, which they helped bring to power by backing mass protests in April against the royal dictatorship of King Gyanendra.

“This ends the more than one decade of civil war in the country,” Prachanda declared after inking the deal. “We will now turn to a campaign of peace and building a new Nepal.”

Schools, offices and businesses were closed today after the government declared a public holiday. Small rallies in support of the accord were held this morning, with more expected later in the day.

“The government has declared it a national day of celebration,” said tourism minister Pradeep Gyawali, a member of the government negotiating team.

The United Nations – which will provide monitors at camps being set up under the deal where rebel fighters and their weapons will be locked up – said the accord was a key step forward in the peace process.

“(The) agreement promises to convert the cease-fire into long-term peace,” said UN representative in Nepal Ian Martin.

The US Embassy in Nepal said it hoped the accord would place Nepal “on the path of lasting peace and democracy".

“We want the peace process to work and we pledge our full support. We support an agreement that safeguards the aspirations of the Nepali people,” the embassy said in a statement.

Neighbouring India said it believes the agreement reflects the overwhelming desire of the Nepalese people for peace and stability.

“We hope that this agreement brings to an end the politics and culture of violence, and heralds the beginning of a lasting peace in order to let the people of Nepal exercise their right to decide their destiny through free and fair elections, without intimidation,” said a statement from India’s foreign ministry.

In London, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said Britain applauds the commitment of the people of Nepal to build a stable and peaceful future.

“We now look to both sides to make the agreement a reality throughout Nepal,” Beckett said.

Prime Minister Koirala said after signing the deal that it “has opened the door for a permanent peace, and Nepal has entered a new era".

More than 13,000 people were killed before a cease-fire was declared in April following the weeks of mass pro-democracy protests that forced Gyanendra to restore Parliament, which he had usurped 14 months earlier.

The accord came a day after a government commission blamed Gyanendra for the brutal crackdown on the April protests that left 19 people dead, and recommended he be punished.

Under the deal, the rebels will join the interim parliament by November 26 and will get 73 of the chamber’s 330 seats. Koirala’s Nepali Congress will remain the biggest party with 85 seats, and the Maoists will share second place with the Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist Leninist). The rest of the seats will be held by other smaller parties.

The rebels’ large number of seats is sure to give them a significant role in a new interim government, which is to be in place by December 1. Officials were still working out the details of how the administration would be set up.

Gyanendra seized power in February 2005, saying he would bring order to a chaotic and corrupt political scene and quell the Maoist insurgency.

Since restoring parliament, Gyanendra has been stripped of his powers, command over the army and his immunity from prosecution.