Coalition talks for Nepal's new government

Updated August 18, 2008 09:39:21

Former rebel leader Prachanda will become Nepal's first prime minister. [AFP]

Nepal's Maoists began the difficult task of cobbling together a coalition cabinet on Sunday, hoping to form the country's first elected government after the abolition of the monarchy.

A special assembly overwhelmingly voted Prachanda, the former rebel chief who led a decade-long civil war against the monarchy, as the new republic's first prime minister on Friday.

Prachanda, 53, who still uses his war nom de guerre that roughly means "terrible" or "fierce", was due to be sworn in on Monday as the country's 17th prime minister in 18 years and only the second communist to be elected.

"We hope to form the cabinet soon and are holding consultations with potential coalition partners," Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara said.

"We will try to form the cabinet by Monday."

The formation of the government is a major step in a 2006 peace deal that ended the Maoist civil war against the monarchy, a decade-long conflict in which more than 13,000 people died.

After signing the pact, the Maoists secured a surprise win, but failed to get a parliamentary majority, in elections for a constituent assembly in April on the promise of creating a new Nepal.

But they achieved their main goals, namely abolition of the monarchy in May and establishing a republic.

During the insurgency, the Maoists said they wanted to give a voice to the country's marginalised and under-privileged.

Analysts say it is time for them to deliver and provide Nepalis with better healthcare, schools, roads, employment and food security.

"Unless those are translated into reality, peace cannot be sustainable," a Western diplomat said.

Nepal, one of the world's poorest nations, now faces an acute shortage of fuel as well as rising oil and food prices.

Popular expectations are high too.

"The people should get peace and comforts," 65-year-old vegetable trader Ghanashyam Bhattarai told Reuters news agency.

Prachanda faces the tricky task of rehabilitating more than 19,000 former guerrillas housed in 28 UN-supervised camps and arrange for more than 200,000 people displaced by the conflict to return home.

A new constitution

The government must also oversee the preparation of a new constitution within two years.

Major political parties, including the Maoists, have promised to change the unitary state into several autonomous provinces under a federal system.

Details of how this will be done in a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual country are unclear.

"This is a very controversial and complex task," analyst Bishnuraj Upreti, who teaches conflict management at Kathmandu University, told Reuters news agency.

In addition, the Maoists need to tackle trouble in the southern plains bordering India, where the ethnic Madheshi people are demanding autonomy.

More than 50 people were killed in protests by the ethnic Madheshis since the Maoists joined the peace process.

The Maoists say the Madheshi People's Rights Forum, the group that organised most of those protests, was expected to be a key coalition partner in the new government.