Farewell to arms

After months of stalemate and two failed peace deals, there?s good news at last from our neighbour Nepal.

After months of stalemate and two failed peace deals, there’s good news at last from Nepal. The trilateral negotiations between representatives of the Maoist rebels, the seven leading political parties and the United Nations have finally resulted in an agreement acceptable to all parties, and one that tackles crucial issues facing the country. The two main stumbling blocks before the earlier peace deals were disarmament and the future of the monarchy. Under the deal signed on November 7, the Maoists have agreed to disarm under UN supervision, in return for 73 seats in the interim Parliament. Significantly, the Maoists’ share in this Parliament is just one short of that of the largest party, the Nepali Congress (NC). It reflects the government’s recognition of the Maoists’ strength, and should go a long way in getting them into the political mainstream.

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The future of the monarchy, it has been agreed, will be decided by a constituent assembly, which is expected to be in place by June 2007 once elections are held under the interim government. All royal property, meanwhile, will be sequestered. The agreement, however, cannot be expected to be a magic wand that will wipe away strife and divisions overnight. Many of the leading political players — including Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress-Democratic and the NC’s Girija Prasad Koirala — are known to be moderately pro-monarchy and stridently anti-Maoist. The Maoists will be heavily outnumbered in the 330-member legislature. For the agreement to hold, all parties concerned will have to exercise restraint to create conditions and institutions that will restore the desperately needed stability and peace in Nepal.