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Friday, 4 February, 2005, 15:55 GMT

'Nepal parties to launch protest'

Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba being sworn in by King Gyanendra in June 2004 A spokesman for the sacked Nepalese prime minister has said political parties will hold protests against King Gyanendra's move to take direct power.

Minendra Rijal, a spokesman for Sher Bahadur Deuba, said the parties would organise peaceful demonstrations.

King Gyanendra has sacked the government, declared a state of emergency and imposed media censorship.

Nepal's army on Friday vowed to take "tougher action" against the country's Maoists if they refused peace talks.

The king said he had to enforce his new measures because the government had failed to protect Nepal from Maoists.

Students detained

The BBC's Charles Haviland in the capital, Kathmandu, says it is becoming clear that as the king, backed by the army, tightens his grip on power, sources of dissent are being blocked.

NEPAL IN CRISIS


There are accounts of numerous arrests of potential demonstrators around the country.

Nepal's national human rights commission says that after students demonstrated in the central town of Pokhara on Tuesday, the army raided their hostel at around midnight.

At least 250 students were believed to have been detained.

Mr Rijal told the BBC that Nepal's problems could not be solved by more authoritarianism, but only by more democracy.

He said the king would fail and end up weakened despite his increased powers

Mr Rijal said that the government never thought that the king would take such drastic action.

Mr Rijal said political parties would soon launch peaceful protests against the king's actions, although cutting of phone lines had made coordination difficult.

Mr Deuba and members of his cabinet have been under house arrest since Tuesday.

Directives

Britain's ambassador, Keith Bloomfield, said on Friday that although London wanted to see Maoism defeated, negotiations were the best way forward for the country.

" "If the army succeeds in [helping] His Majesty's government to resolve the Maoist problem, it's name will be written in Nepal's history in golden letters "
Gen Pyar Jung Thapa,
army chief of staff


Soldiers in Nepal

He said there was concern the king's takeover might instead push the political parties towards the rebels.

Nepal's military has defended the king's moves, saying it will step up its offensive against Maoists if they do not return to the negotiating table.

The rebels have been fighting a nine-year insurgency to replace the monarchy with a communist republic.

Army chief of staff, Gen Pyar Jung Thapa, said: "The army must launch tougher action against the Maoists if they ignore His Majesty's call to lay down their arms [and] join the mainstream."

However, amid concerns from rights groups, the general said security forces would be given directives on "international law and the Geneva Convention".

On Wednesday, a spokesman for the Maoists ruled out any possibility of talks with the king.

It is not clear what the king has in mind if the rebels fail to re-enter peace negotiations.

The rebels had refused to hold negotiations with the last government, saying they needed a direct dialogue with the king.

Now they have condemned the clampdown.




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