JURIST - Paper Chase: Nepal peace deal ends decade-long Maoist insurgency

[JURIST] Nepalese Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist rebel leader Prachanda signed [recorded video via eKantipur] a peace agreement [text in Nepali] Tuesday formally ending the decade-long Maoist guerilla insurgency against the government that left over 13,000 people dead. The deal clears the way for Maoists to serve in the country's interim parliament and in the new interim government by December 1. The government-Maoist rapproachement follows the re-establishment of civilian control over the government after a period of unpopular direct rule by King Gyanendra, who dismissed the previous civilian government [JURIST report] in February 2005 out of impatience with its anti-Maoist strategy but who was forced to restore civilian authority in April 2006 after mass protests [JURIST news archive]. AP has more.

The accord was concluded one day after Nepal's High Level Probe Commission submitted its final report to the Nepalese government, concluding that Gyanendra and some 200 members of his administration were responsible for the violent police response [JURIST report] to the democracy protests that left 22 dead and more than 5,000 wounded. Disagreements between government politicians and the Maoists continue over exactly what role, if any, the King should play in the new Nepalese constitutional structure. eKantipur has local coverage.

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