Nepal

Main coalition partner quits government after Maoists fire army chief

Article published on the 2009-05-03 Latest update 2009-05-03 13:53 TU

Student supporters of the Nepali COngress Party protest against the Maoists
(Photo: Reuters)

The main coalition ally of Nepal's Maoists has quit the government after the firing of the army chief, although minority coalition partners have dubbed the move undemocratic. Maoist Ministers accuse General Rookmangud Katawal of refusing to fire eight senior generals and integrate former guerrillas in the military.

Katawal was fired because" his clarification for defying the government orders was not satisfactory", according to Information Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara.

Last month Prime Minister Prachanda asked the army chief to explain why he had not implemented orders to fire the generals and take in 19,000 former Maoist guerrillas into the army. The former rebels are currently confined to UN-supervised camps.

The Maoists formed a coalition government and abolished the monarchy after winning the highest number of seats in last year's election. That followed the end of a decade-long guerrilla war, which had pitched their forces against what was then the Royal Nepalese Army. 

The second-largest party in the coalition, the Commuist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), has told its ministers to stand down and withdrawn support for the government.

Junior partners in the coalition opposed the move and boycotted Sunday's cabinet meeting. The Nepali Congress calling the dismissal "undemocratic and autocratic" and an attempt to "impose dictatorial rule".

Katawal has refused to stand down, according to Nepali journalist CK Lal.

"As things stand, he has refused to accept his dismissal letter," Lal told RFI. “He actually had three more months to go before he would have retired naturally, anyway.”