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Cease fire holds

The cease fire between the government and Maoists remained intact until 11:20 PM Thursday night, a security source told Nepalnews. 

Incidents at Sindhuli and Surket were the only most recent violations of the code of conduct by Maoists, he told Nepalnews. Maoist earlier Thursday agreed to hold talks. Their ultimatum to the government to meet the five point demands ends in another 40 minutes. nepalnews.com br July 31

Facilitators trying to meet King

Four facilitators are trying to meet the King to confirm his repeated commitments to multi-party democracy in public statements , facilitator Padma Ratna Tuladhar told Nepalnews Thursday. 

"The King has repeatedly made public his commitments. We have asked Kamal Thapa for a meeting with the King to confirm it and pass on the message to the Maoists," Tuladhar said. 

Rebel chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal made no mention of a demand the King issue a statement the government is empowered to negotiate and implement negotiated agreements in his statement Thursday. 

"The most important outcome of the fresh developments is that the cease-fire continues to hold," he said. The date and venue for the third round of talks between the Government and Maoists have to be fixed. 

"The Maoist negotiating team will not surface publicly before that," he said. nepalnews.com br July 31

UML rally for peace

To press the Government and the Maoists to sit for the next round of peace talks, CPN-UML Thursday organised a peace rally in the capital. 

"Form an all party government under the leadership of agitating parties" and "Government, Maoist don't move away from talks" were some of the slogans chanted by the UML leaders and cadres. 

UML leaders Bharat Mohan Adhikari, Bamdev Gautam and others participated in the rally. Addressing the gathering, they alleged the government of trying to lengthen its tenure in the name of peace talks. 

On the other hand, UML leaders blamed Maoists of amassing weapons and strengthening its militia in the name of holding peace talks. nepalnews.com mr July 31 

Annan ready to assist

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan "remains at the disposal of Nepal to assist the achievement of a negotiated peaceful solution between the Government and Maoists, the UN Information Center in Nepal said Thursday. 

"While a ceasefire that came into effect in January of this year has been holding and the sides have engaged in a series of formal and informal discussions, the process faced serious obstacles in the recent weeks and has reached a critical state," Annan said in a statement in New York Wednesday. 

The UN Chief has "welcomed the continued expression by the Government and the Maoist group of their commitment to a peaceful solution and has appreciated the intense efforts that are ongoing at present to overcome the hurdles," Annan said. 

He was "following with keen interest the peace process in Nepal," the UN said. nepalnews.com br July 31

Maoists to sit down for talks

The long wait ended Thursday with Maoists saying they will sit down for talks with the Government of Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa. 

Maoist Chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal, in a statement, said he had ordered the rebel negotiating team to begin talks. Dahal said the third round of talks should discuss a political agenda demanded by the rebels. 

"The commitment of the government to discuss political issues, release three central committee members were positive," Dahal's said in a statement. Opposition political parties should be involved in the talks, he said. 

"The coming discussions should be centered not on technicalities but on political issues under the special circumstances," Dahal added.

Government Spokesman Kamal Thapa welcomed the development as "positive." "The response is positive," Kamal Thapa said. "The government will establish direct contact with the Maoists and start talks," Thapa told reporters. 

He asked five opposition parties to help the peace process. "Government has taken the fresh developments positively. Our commitment will be to discuss political issues in the talks," Thapa said. 

"We will succeed in peaceful resolution through talks. The opposition has an important role .The Government will try to involve opposition .We ask the opposition to act positively," Thapa said. nepalnews.com br July 31

At least 70 killed in floods, landslides

At least 70 persons are feared killed or are missing in floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains, the Home Ministry and independent reports said Thursday. 

A landslide buried alive 22 persons at Manakamana in Gorkha Thursday and many others are missing as search and rescue teams work to pull out people buried in the landslide debris, the Home Ministry said. 

Twenty-persons and missing in floods and landslides at a village in Chitwan. Seven persons were killed in Makwanpur, one in Tanahu and six others in Nawaparasi, independent reports said. 

Army and police were plucking out marooned villagers to safe locations in the terai districts the whole day Friday. Rivers washed away parked vehicles along highways. Thousands of bus passengers were stranded because of blocked highways. 

Flood waters entered the Royal Chitwan National Park--the home of the endangered tiger and the one-horned rhino. Thousands of homes in the terai district have been flooded..

Rains have damaged water pipes at Balkhu in the capital. Landslides have blocked sections of the Tribhuvan Highway and a section of the Mahendra Highway near Hetauda; landslides have also blocked traffic on the Prithvi Highway, reports said. 

Heavy overnight rain washed a section of the Narayanghat-Mugling road. The Janakpur-Jayanagar railway service has been disrupted by heavy rain in Dhanusha district. 

Floods, landslides and lightening have killed more than 140 people in over 30 of 75 districts since mid-June. Last official reports said the national disaster has left behind 225 million rupees in damages. nepalnews.com br July 31

International pressure mounts for peace

International pressure for peace mounted ahead of an ultimatum set by Maoists on Government to meet five demands for the third phase of peace of negotiations by Thursday night (18.15 GMT). 

Britain's Baroness Amos, Secretary of State for the Department of International Development, sent messages to Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa and General Secretary of NCP (Maoists) Thursday to "continue the peace process in order to achieve a sustainable democratic peace,' the British Embassy said. 

She said:" My Ministerial colleagues and I noted and welcomed the steps taken in Nepal to establish and maintain a ceasefire and to find a negotiated settlement to the current crisis. "We are anxious to see progress towards the peace settlement maintained by both parties. We are therefore concerned by recent critical developments and the threat they pose to Nepal's peace process negotiations."

"Any resumption of armed conflict would have the most serious consequences for development and human suffering in Nepal. We urge both parties to exercise maximum restraint at this time and to continue the peace process." 

The statement comes after UN Chief Kofi Annan's offer of good offices. nepalnews.com br July 31

Maoist abduction condemned

The Defence Ministry condemned  the "inhuman and irresponsible" abductions of two soldiers from Makawanpur district recently, the Defence Ministry said Thursday. A search still continues for them.

The "inhuman" abductions raise doubts about the "sincerity" of the rebels while at the same time the rebels claim security forces have violated the code of conduct by its "defensive" actions, the Ministry said.

Maoists have ignored government commitment to peace talks and created confusion by unsubstantiated claims by Maoists leaders, the statement said. The Defence Ministry asked the rebels to immediately release the abducted soldiers and honour the code of conduct signed by the government and the rebels.

"If such activities continue, in the greater interest of the nation, the security forces will be compelled to act within the parameters set by law," the statement warned. The statement made no mention of rebel attacks on the Army in Surkhet and Sindhuli killing two soldiers and injuring two others this week.

Government has not received its offer for talks in reply to a rebel ultimatum to fulfill five demands by Thursday night. nepalnews.com br July 31

Refugees want ‘direct dialogue’ with Bhutan govt.

In an interaction program Thursday, Bhutanese refugees have once again raised a neglected-but-crucial issue of “direct dialogue” between the refugees and the Bhutanese government to end the decade old imbroglio. 

“We want such talks,” refugee activist RB Subba told Nepalnews Thursday. “Since the last decade, we have been echoing this demand,” Subba told Nepalnews in a sideline meeting of an interaction program in Kathmandu . “But, Bhutan did not heed to us.”

Subba said he and refugee organizations sent several letters to Bhutan as well as the Nepal government. “We did not get any reply, he stated.”

Dialogue between the refugee representatives and Bhutan government is a must to end the problem peacefully and permanently, according to Subba. He is chairman of Bhutanese Refugee Representative Repatriation Committee (BRRRC). 

Subba, in a work paper presented in the interaction program, said, “The origin of the Bhutanese refugee problem is a well planned action of the Bhutan government to depopulate the one ethnic majority of Nepali speaking southern Bhutanese.”

Refugee leaders present in the program said the coming 15th round of bilateral talks to be held in Thimpu in August is very crucial and sensitive. 

“This talk is expectedly going to finalize all the procedures for repatriation,” they said. “If Bhutan still maintains its position which is likely looking at the on-going decision of the national assembly of Bhutan , Nepal should decide on its part what is best and should not linger anymore.”

On the international community role, they said the community should convince Bhutan to allow United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ role in repatriation and rehabilitation process.

Other demands of the refugees were citizenship, homestead, safety and security, and social welfare in Bhutan .

Politicians and diplomats such as Chakra Prasad Bastola, Shailendra Kumar Upadhyay, CP Mainali and Lila Mani Pokhrel, among others, took part in the interaction titled “Solution to Bhutanese Refugee Problem and Need of Common Policy”.

Refugee leaders urged Nepali politicians to form a common viewpoint on the issue. nepalnews.com mr July 31

Two soldiers killed, two injured

Two soldiers were killed and two others were injured Wednesday in a socket bomb attack on unarmed soldiers in civilian dress at Bhadrakali in Sindhuli district, security sources said.

The injured have been evacuated to the capital for medical treatment. The group was moving to Madanbas to protect a repeater station. nepalnews.com br July 31