Nepal prime minister resigns

Nepal’s prime minister announced his resignation Monday on national television, setting off political tumult in the young democracy and evoking unpleasant memories of riots and protracted street demonstrations in late 2006.

The showdown had been brewing for weeks but came to a head Sunday when Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal of the majority Maoist party fired the head of the army.

At issue was an agreement under which former Maoist militants would be allowed to join the army. The military has strongly resisted this move, prompting Dahal’s decision to sack the top officer.

The direct challenge didn’t sit well with President Ram Baran Yadav, who officially leads the army, prompting him to block the firing. This in turn led other political parties in the ruling coalition to withdraw their support Monday, resulting in the prime minister’s resignation.

“It looks like the government made some mistakes and the president’s side made some mistakes,” Sadhana Ghimire, a professor with the Katmandu School of Law, said in a telephone interview. “It may play out in parliament or on the street. We’ll have to see what happens.”

In his resignation speech, Dahal said he was leaving to “create a conducive environment and save the peace process,” adding that the president’s move to reinstate army chief Rookmangud Katawal was a “fatal attack on the infant democracy.”

If the standoff isn’t resolved quickly with some compromise on both sides, analysts fear the broader peace deal could be in jeopardy. That accord ended a decade-long civil war and brought the Maoists out of the jungle and into the government.

After the prime minister’s announcement Monday, authorities imposed a ban on protests in parts of Katmandu, including areas around the president’s residence and office, while police in riot gear were deployed across the city.

On Sunday, thousands of protesters on both sides of the dispute hit the streets, burning tires, chanting and waving banners.

So far the two sides haven’t clashed directly, but authorities said they weren’t taking any chances.

“We are expecting trouble and are prepared to stop violence in the streets,” Home Ministry official Navin Ghimire said in a statement. “Policemen are on high alert and will be mobilized throughout the capital.”

The situation won’t be easy to resolve, analysts said. Under the agreements that ended the civil war, 20,000 Maoist troops should have been merged with the Nepalese army, considered loyal to the country’s former king, who was deposed last year by an act of parliament.

But the army has a deep distrust of the Maoist fighters after years of tough fighting. There are also sensitive social issues. The army draws its ranks from higher castes, while most of the Maoists have more impoverished, rural and lower-caste roots.

And the army feels it would lose its professionalism if it combined with the ex-guerrilla fighters, even as the fighters bridle at being treated like second-class citizens in a government they’ve joined and have headed.

“It makes for quite a volatile mix,” Sujeet Dutta, a senior fellow with the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, said in a telephone interview. “As the crisis lingers, it will lead to street agitation. Not necessarily guerrilla action but more street violence on both sides.”

Some analysts predicted the Maoist government will fall. Adding to these woes, Nepal has battled economic ills, including power outages lasting more than 16 hours a day; fuel shortages, leading to long lines at gas stations; and rising food prices.

Dahal’s political base is also at stake since he promised the former fighters they would receive high-paying, high-status positions in the military.

The army recently enlisted 3,000 new recruits without considering the Maoists, who have been waiting three years in barracks monitored by the United Nations. Katawal, the army chief, has argued that the former rebels remained indoctrinated and are therefore unfit to join the service.

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mark.magnier@latimes.com