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Nepal's leaders meet to thrash out new government
Agence France Presse - May 30, 2010
Sophia Tamot, Kathmandu – Nepal's three main parties held talks on Sunday to try to hammer out a new coalition government after the prime minister agreed to resign to avert a political crisis.
Madhav Kumar Nepal said he would step down in a last-minute deal to secure support of Maoist lawmakers for a bill to extend parliament's term, which was due to expire Friday, leaving the country without a functioning legislature.
The opposition Maoists won 2008 elections, but their government fell last year in a disagreement over the integration of their former fighters into the national army, and they have been agitating for a return to power ever since.
"Leaders of the Nepali Congress, Communist Party of Nepal (UML) and the Maoists are in deep discussions on how to take Friday's agreement forward," UML leader Pradeep Gyawali told AFP.
"They are also discussing the PM's resignation and they hope to create a workplan on the next possible steps."
As the largest party in parliament the Maoists are likely to take a lead role in the next power-sharing government, but the prime minister's office said that many issues needed to be addressed first.
The Maoists fought a decade-long civil war against the state before agreeing to lay down their arms in a 2006 peace agreement. However four years later, many of the terms of that deal remain unfulfilled.
These include the integration of thousands of former Maoist fighters into the national army and the disbanding of the party's armed youth wing, the Young Communist League (YCL), which rival parties say is an obstacle to lasting peace.
The prime minister had been in discussions with many of the country's smaller parties which made up the coalition government that ruled since May 2009, his spokesman Bishnu Rijal told AFP.
"They agreed that army integration, YCL disbandment and the appointment of a new leader to head the national unity government are urgent," Rijal said on Sunday. "The prime minister's resignation will come only after all this is agreed."
Analysts said that although the extension of the parliament, or "Constituent Assembly", had averted a political crisis, there now was a risk of further paralysis.
"All sides are battling it out," Prashant Jha, a political analyst, told AFP. "Until there is compromise on an alternative candidate (for prime minister), the political deadlock will continue."
Karin Landgren, representative of the UN Secretary-General to Nepal, welcomed the extension of the Constituent Assembly as it "secures the continuation of the peace process."
She urged the parties to continue in the spirit of compromise to draft Nepal's new constitution and to seek solutions to peace process issues such as a "dignified" resolution of the future of the Maoist army.
Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who is better known as Prachanda, led the rebel insurgency before 2006 and earlier this month he brought the country to a standstill by holding a nationwide general strike to press the party's demands.
The strike was called off after six days following international pressure and a mass rally in the capital Kathmandu protesting against the disruption of schools and businesses.
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