Nepal's king announced yesterday he would allow parliamentary elections within 15 months and claimed success in fighting the country's communist rebels -- even as army officials said insurgents killed at least 20 troops overnight.
King Gyanendra's address to the nation, on the first anniversary of his seizure of absolute power, failed to satisfy Nepal's main political parties, who said it not appear to signal any softening of his authoritarian rule and that they would press ahead with anti-government protests.
And the king's message that security in the Himalayan kingdom had improved under his direct rule was immediately undermined when army sources said the country's Maoist rebels had launched a major assault on a western town, killing at least 17 policemen and three soldiers.
PHOTO: AFP
The king seized control over the government on Feb. 1 last year, drawing heavy protest from the country's main political parties and criticism from foreign governments who have urged him to speed moves to restore democracy.
"All the positions held by people's representatives will be filled" by mid-April 2007, the king said in his address, carried by state-run media.
The king said at the time of his takeover that the move was necessary to quell the country's growing rebellion by Maoist rebels and end corruption.
Gyanendra said yesterday that his royalist government was turning the tide against rebel attacks, which it refers to as "terrorist" activities.
"Terrorist activities have narrowed down to just a few sporadic criminal activities," the king said.
However, military sources said that, hours earlier, the rebels had attacked an army camp, police station, jail and government buildings in the western Nepal town of Tansen, some 300km west of Kathmandu, killing at least 17 policemen and three soldiers.
Scores of policemen and other officials were missing.
Soldiers already had recovered bodies of 17 policemen and three soldiers, said a Royal Nepalese Army spokesman, speaking on condition of anonymity, citing military policy.
While assaults by rebels were on hold during their four-month ceasefire through Jan. 2, they have launched increasing attacks since then. The rebels had said they were halting violence to give peace talks a chance, but then ended the pledge, accusing the government of failing to reciprocate.
A coalition of seven political parties hoped to launch a major protest rally later yesterday in Kathmandu to press the monarch to roll back his power grab, and the royalist government arrested hundreds of dissidents ahead of the rally, politicians said.
"The king clearly said he is going to continue his authoritarian rule. It shows there is not going to be any changes immediately," said Mahesh Acharya of the Nepali Congress, the country's largest political party.
Bamdev Gautam of the Communist Party of Nepal said the speech "was collection of meaningless words and nothing more. He was just self promoting about good things he claims to have done. We will step up our movement for democracy."
Nepal has held no elections since 1999 and lacked a working parliament since it was dissolved in 2002. Plans for elections have been put off in part due to the insurgency, which has made deep inroads.
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