Peace News has been tracking Nepal’s rickety peace process which has had another deadline. After the end of the civil war in 2006, the Maoists stopped being guerrillas and became ministers, as they formed the largest party in the new parliament in 2008.
Having resigned in 2009 after disputes with the Nepali army, the Maoists are back in charge. Maoist prime minister Baburam Bhattarai announced on 28 September that he had set himself until the end of November to complete the peace process and produce a new constitution. Not going to happen. Bhattarai was elected by parliament on 28 August, after winning the support of ethnic parties from the southern Terai region (the “Madhes”). The deal he made with the Madhesi parties was concealed from rest of the Maoist leadership, who have expressed shock at (among other things) the resulting rapid incorporation of 10,000 Madhesis into the security forces.
This is partly because one of the major obstacles to the completion of the official peace process is the stubborn opposition of the army and the other major parties to the integration of 19,000 Maoist ex-guerrillas into the security forces. The 2006 comprehensive peace accord that ended the civil war promised “integration and rehabilitation” of the former fighters. Fractures inside the Maoist party are widening.