US envoy warns political parties in Nepal

US envoy JF Moriarty also warned political parties against getting closer with the Maoists to force the king to restore democracy.

Nepal's communist rebels are benefiting from the standoff between king and political parties, the US ambassador said on Wednesday.

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US Ambassador James F Moriarty also warned political parties against getting closer with the Maoist insurgents to force the king to restore democracy.

Unless the king and the parties seek to reconcile, "the Maoists will only continue to gain advantage — in the countryside, among people of goodwill tired of the king-parties standoff, and among others who desperately believe ... that the insurgents will shed their ideological stripes and join the political mainstream," Moriarty said.