Nepal is not a place for spending a vacation now

Nepal, a small country is again the center of the attention of the world mass media due to the breakout of violence. The guerrillas of the Communist Party of Nepal attacked the airport of Safebagar, which is in the west of Nepal. The Maoist militants killed 53 people as well as chief of the security service of the Acham district, where the airport is situated. The gunmen even managed to gain control over the airport for several hours. The attack took place before the planned speech from Nepal’s Prime Minister Bahadur Deuba, which should have been delivered at the parliament. The premier was going to offer the legislative board to prolong the state of emergency in the country for three months more. The state of emergency was announced in the country after the royal family was killed last year. To all appearances, the government of the country is unable to control the situation in Nepal, the citizens of which cannot recover from the shock that was caused by the death of almost the entire royal family.

The rebellion under the direction of Nepal’s Maoist Communist party has lasted for six years, since 1996. The Maoists are presumably students and people who lost their jobs. Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as Comrade Prachanda (the ominous), is at the head of the party.

It should be mentioned here that there is another communist party operating in Nepal, a Marxist-Leninist party, which has close links with the Communist Party of India. This is a respectable organization that takes rather stable position in the political establishment of Nepal, in contrast to the Maoists. The Maoists originally proclaimed their goal as the forceful downfall of the monarchy.

Nepal’s government and the Maoists tried to reach a compromise last year. However, the long negotiations did not result in anything. On November 21, 2001, the Maoists refused to continue the dialogue, having claimed that the government did not agree with their basic requirement: to pass a new constitution that considerably restricted the rights and authority of a monarch. Several days after this event, the rebels attacked the police stations and the administrative objects on the vast territory of the country. The government of Nepal’s king announced that the Maoists were terrorists and started waging a real war against them. The latest events in the country showed that, in spite of the efforts taken by the government, the Maoist Communist Party still enjoys the support of a certain part of the population. The support is based on the fact that the majority of Nepal’s citizens live below the poverty line. The Maoists accuse the king of all troubles (the king is not very popular), as well as the government, and these ideas are supported by the majority of the people of the country. The conflict in Nepal killed over two thousand people, but it seems there is no end of it. A military solution of the conflict is very unlikely to succeed. The Maoists will have the support of the masses until the living standard in the country improves.

Vasily Bubnov PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov