Nepal's top rebel leader, Prachanda, has declared an end to violence after 10 years of armed insurgency.
The announcement came after a peace deal which will see the Maoists join an interim government within a month.

The accord has been welcomed by Nepal's politicians, as well as by giant neighbour India and the US and UK.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Kathmandu says there are genuine hopes the deal will end the decade-long conflict in which about 13,000 people were killed.

Welcomed

The rebel leader said the Maoists had a "new vision" for the country and would use politics, not violence, to "meet the aspirations of the people's longing for peace".


We expect these decisions to place Nepal on the path of reconciliation, peace, stability and economic recovery
Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee
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"Our experiences have shown we could not achieve our goals through armed revolution so we have chosen the path of negotiation and formed an alliance with the political parties," he told a news conference in Kathmandu just hours after the accord was reached.

Prachanda said the rebels would respect human rights and democracy and the rule of law "when a new constitution and a new government is formed".

In a BBC interview, he promised that the parallel state that the Maoists run in much of Nepal would be dissolved once they entered government.

The agreement reached at midnight on Tuesday has been welcomed by Nepalese politicians who said the deal was historic.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said: "I believe this is a new revolutionary solution to the country's problems."

India described the agreement as a victory for the people of Nepal. The United States welcomed the deal but warned its success depended on how it was implemented.

People in Kathmandu hoped the accord would bring peace, but some expressed scepticism about the rebels' intentions.

In one suburb, hundreds of people stopped traffic and burned tyres shouting slogans against the rebels.

They condemned the rebels for visiting homes demanding that Maoists coming to the city for a rally on Friday be given food and shelter. The rebels deny exerting such pressures.

Rebel arms

Under the accord, the rebels' weapons will be put under UN supervision.


The thorny issue of the future of the already disempowered monarchy will be determined at the first gathering of a constituent assembly due to be elected by next June.

The institution's fate will be decided by a simple majority.

Nepal's transitional government will be formed at the beginning of December.

Before that, parliament will be expanded to take in 73 Maoist members, only two fewer than the biggest party, the Nepali Congress.

Before the assembly election the rebels will be confined to seven camps. They will keep the keys to their weapons but will be separated from them and the locks will be closely monitored by the UN.

The Maoists entered into negotiations with the government after a popular uprising in April forced King Gyanendra to end his direct rule and appoint a multi-party government.

Story from BBC NEWS:

It's about time! Both GPK and Prachanda are upbeat about it and I hope that means that they both have reasons to believe the arms management process will work.

Hope this will bring sustainable peace in Nepal. God bless Nepal.

They are holding a rally to declare 'victory' Another good sign I think because this now means they are declaring victory based not on the war they waged for 10 years but on the peace they negotiated for a few months. A tell tale sign of an insurgency winding-up. That is, if Comrades Prachanda and Bhattarai can convince their cadres to stand down. All signs at this time are they can, at least most of them. Another interesting thing to watch for would be if disgruntled cadres form a splinter group and how the party would handle such an event.



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- http://www.nepalitimes.com/issue/321/Update/12726

Victory rally from tonight
5.30PM | 8 November

From Issue #321 (03 November 06 - 09 November 06) | TABLE OF CONTENTS

The CPN Maoists are to stage a victory rally throughout the country in the wake of the historic agreement signed between the seven party alliance led government and the Maoists. In a press conference held on Wednesday afternoon in Kathmandu Chairman Prachanda announced that his party would stage the rally beginning Wednesday evening. Prachanda also declared that he would not be making his speech on the mass gathering on Friday in Kathmandu as announced earlier as they did not wish to create further problems for residents of the Valley. Thousands of Maoist cadres brought to the capital for Friday’s mass meeting have been going around the Valley asking residents to provide food and shelter to at least 10 of their cadres. The Maoist office in Kupondol was guarded by Nepal Police personnel today after local residents protested against the Maoist demands for food and shelter.

The agreement reached late Tuesday night after weeks of negotiation states that a peace accord will be signed within 16 November, that the Peoples Liberation Army will be stationed in camps monitored by the UN by 22 November, and an interim legislature consisting of 330 members announced the same day. An interim constitution will be declared by 26 November and the current parliament dissolved. The interim legislature will consist of 209 members from the current Lower and Upper Houses, 73 from the Maoists and 48 representatives from various professions and the civil society. The Nepali Congress will have 75 representatives, CPN-UML and the Maoists will share 73 seats each, Nepali Congress Democratic 42, and the rest of the smaller parties will receive 19 seats. The United Left Front, which does not have a member in the current parliament will also be represented. The agreement has also decided the legal voting age as 18.

Long live Prachanda! Long Live Baburam!!!
Long live their idealogies!!!!



Nepal will now be on a ROLE due to maoists, hats off to them!!!!!

LooTe

They are certainly going to live longer than they might have if they were still waging a war :)

hahahah...captain,
i think prachanda and baburam did not start the war to get killed/assasinated one day. they fought for a change and since it has come now (thankfully), they do not want to continue the war/violence, why would they anyways?.

it's not a rocket science, is it? :P :P

LooTe

pranchada ko puchar (lootekukur) nachya herana
. They declared ceasefire many months ago. Did they end the ceasefire?

When my parents went to nepal recently even our home was asked for money forcefully. Not even us but almost all our neighbour. Even the one old lady who sells vegetables has to give 300 rupees.

And loote you may talk abou maoist idelogy but i am the one who is in day to day contact with maoist leaders. Have to attend all their interviews, and i know what they really are.

I suppose it's pretty simple: all politics is power politics - some are just more ideologically driven than others.

I dont think general people are very excited considering the fact , how they have been extorted money. Only few ardent follower of 8 parties semms to be happy. Only yesterday the two student supporting maoist and UML clashed. So there is big rift underneath in the ground level no matter how topmost leader pretend.

But I don't think Prachanda and Baburam are as strong of a Leader. If a Leader with that Ideology should be as strong as Fidel or someone like that calliber. However, lets see what his vision is. I really don't believe anyone coming from jungle can develop the nation. This is just a begining of the communal poverty in Nepal.

Or a Leader like Dr. CHE needs to be there to handle the post revolution era.

" I really don't believe anyone coming from jungle can develop the nation. This is just a begining of the communal poverty in Nepal. "

Reminds me of something I heard on the radio the other day: communism is the only system that can make everyone equal: it does so by making everyone poor!

Prachanda and co have to prove they are different to get my vote (if they care for it)

I think the movement has been a roaring success, but their best days might be behind them. They might have been very successful as a guerrilla movement but now comes the hard part: putting the rhetoric, some of it very unrealistic, into action.

:)

About damn time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think the movement has been a roaring success, but their best days might be behind them. They might have been very successful as a guerrilla movement but now comes the hard part: putting the rhetoric, some of it very unrealistic, into action

well said captain!!!!

yes, the testing time has arrived. let's see, how much they will be able to fit into the heart of nepalese. call me ultra optimistic, but i am hopeful. something good is in store for nepal :)

you have a good one!

LooTe

Hey Loote -

"something good is in store for nepal "

I agree. I just don't think it is the Maoists :) I acknowledge we feel differently about that.

Take care.

But it certainly is a time for optimism and I am with you on that.

how about this captain?

khub jamega rang jab mil baithenge teen yaar, aap mai aur aapki honiwali? wahahahahahaha ;P

have a good eve :)

LooTe

It wont be a surprise if GPK and prachanda both r awarded nobel peace prize of next year for they have written a history that was never written before.For gods sake I dont want to see that day.....

Loote -

Wah wah wah! Bilkul zabarzast! Except there is a small problem : I am very single :) No honewali (or sonewali either) ;)

But in the same spirit, how about you, me and your honewali? We'll have a blast together, maybe go watch Borat and then chill out at a nice place? Whadda ya think?


Aloneinpacific - yeah, no matter what these people were upto in the past, credit is due to them for making this work in the present. One other person who deserves credit is Madhav Kumar Nepal for showing flexibility with the referendum issue. I hope they do more things worthy of credit in the future and dont turn out again to be the bums they were in the past.