Sacked - (again)

[Boulia]

News report below - maybe someone on the ground in Nepal can comment over the next fews days if they feel it will make any difference at all for us planning to visit soon.

"Nepali King Gyanendra sacked the government on Tuesday, assuming power for the next three years amid an escalating civil war with Maoist rebels, Indian television reported.

The king announced his decision to sack the government on state radio, but shortly afterwards communications links between Kathmandu and the rest of the world appeared to be cut."

[Unregistered]

Below is the lead article on Cnn.com. It kind of stinks. My friend and I have planned for over a year and a half to do an EBC trek in one month. We have invested a lot of time, trust, energy, and negotiation with the wives an work to get this done. I am fearful this may be our sign of what to do....




Nepal's king sacks government
Tuesday, February 1, 2005 Posted: 12:41 AM EST (0541 GMT)


KATMANDU, Nepal -- King Gyanendra says he has dissolved the government of Nepal and will take control of the Himalayan kingdom.

In a national broadcast on Tuesday, the king accused the government of failing to conduct parliamentary elections and restoring peace in the country.

It is the second time in three years the monarch has taken such a drastic move.

The king acceded to the throne in 2001 after his brother King Birendra was killed in a massacre at the royal palace.

The monarch, who is also the supreme commander of the 78,000-strong Royal Nepalese Army, said security forces would be given more power to maintain law and order.

But he insisted human rights would be respected, according to AP reports.

Even before the announcement, commentators said the king was unhappy with Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for continually deferring elections -- a mandate given to him by the king when he appointed him the post in June.

Deuba found himself in a deep political bind -- caught between the king and other political forces. He was fired in October 2002, sparking massive street protests, and was reinstated with the task of holding elections.

His major coalition partner, the communist party, is deeply divided over the election call.

In addition, Maoist rebels have stated in no uncertain terms that there will be a massive bloodbath if Deuba announces elections.

Inspired by Chinese revolutionary leader Mao Zedong, the rebels want to replace Nepal's monarchy with a Communist state.

Over an eight-year period, the insurgency has claimed more than 11,000 lives.

Journalist Akhilesh Upadhyay contributed to this report

[Unregistered]

I did not mean to highlight the advertisements. That is my fault. If the reviewer wants to delete those, that is fine by me.

Thanks - advertisements deleted! :cool:

[Boulia]

I am certainly not changing plans at this time, Khumbu area for one has been out of Maoists range and all I expect (I am no expert but was there during marches etc last year) is for a bit more disruption including street marches to keep away from. I will be there in April unless it really and truly blows up. Things may have been worse if the PM called elections !

[snaark]

This has me worried - I just paid the balance on my flights to KTM just a few hours before I read this!

This happened 3 years ago - can anyone tell me what the consequences were then? The news reports I have read suggest that the King is accusing the govt of delaying elections.

Why are none of the Nepali news websites reporting on this yet? Nepalnews.com doesn't seem to be working at all.

[Boulia]

The BBC is reporting that phone lines to KTM have been shut down. I expect the impact if any will not come to light for some days.