Communist rebels in Nepal announced yesterday they will extend their unilateral ceasefire by one month to help pressure the king to restore democracy.
Prachanda, the leader of the Maoist rebels, said they decided on the extension after considering requests from home and abroad.
The three-month unilateral ceasefire was to have expired this weekend. The extension will offer a chance to find peace in Nepal, Prachanda said in a statement.
"After considering the plea from those in favor of peace and a stable political situation in the country, we decided to extend the ceasefire by one month," he said.
"Our party believes that this decision will help boost the movement against the autocratic regime and speed up the process for peace," he said.
Since declaring the initial unilateral ceasefire on Sept. 3 in the hope of reviving peace talks, the rebels have reached an agreement with an alliance of seven top political parties to push King Gyanendra to restore democracy.
Gyanendra seized absolute control of the government on Feb. 1 -- a move he said was needed to quell the communist insurgency.
The rebels and political parties also agreed to cooperate in reinstating parliament, forming a government and holding elections for a special assembly that would draft a new constitution -- a condition long sought by the rebels.
The rebels also said they would end their insurgency -- in which about 12,000 people have died since 1996 -- and give up their arms under international supervision if an election for a special assembly is held.
The rebels, who claim to be inspired by Chinese communist revolutionary Mao Zedong (毛澤東), have been fighting to topple Nepal's monarchy and establish a communist state.
The political parties have been organizing street protests against Gyanendra and the royal government.
A mass protest was planned for later yesterday in Kathmandu.
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
YELLOW SHIRTS: Many protesters were associated with pro-royalist groups that had previously supported the ouster of Paetongtarn’s father, Thaksin, in 2006 Protesters rallied on Saturday in the Thai capital to demand the resignation of court-suspended Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and in support of the armed forces following a violent border dispute with Cambodia that killed more than three dozen people and displaced more than 260,000. Gathered at Bangkok’s Victory Monument despite soaring temperatures, many sang patriotic songs and listened to speeches denouncing Paetongtarn and her father, former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and voiced their backing of the country’s army, which has always retained substantial power in the Southeast Asian country. Police said there were about 2,000 protesters by mid-afternoon, although