Bush writes to Nepal's King

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Bush writes to king

By Ameet Dhakal

 

KATHMANDU, Dec 19 - Stepping up American concern in Nepal's political

crisis, US President George W Bush has written a letter to King

Gyanendra urging him to reach out to the political parties.

A highly placed source, preferring anonymity, told the Post that US

ambassador to Nepal, James F Moriarty, handed over the letter during

his audience with the king on Friday. "The letter basically urges the

king to reach out to the political parties and start a democratic

process," said the source. This is probably the first time that

President Bush has written to King Gyanendra since he seized power on

February One.

 

According to the source, the king reiterated his commitment to

multiparty democracy and said that he has already started the

democratic process by announcing the dates of municipal polls. The

king also told the US envoy that he has even announced 2006 as the

year for parliamentary polls, the source further said.

 

When contacted, an US Embassy official said the embassy does not

comment on the substance of such discussions. "The ambassador did

meet the king on Friday and had a constructive conversation. The

embassy does not comment on the substance of such bilateral

diplomatic discussions," said Laura Lucas, deputy director at the

American Centre, Embassy of the United States.

 

Moriarty met the king after returning from his 10-day long

consultations in Washington DC. He was called in by the State

Department for consultations in the wake of the 12-point

understanding reached between the political parties and the rebels.

 

Observes say the king's continued stance on polls means he is not

going to budge from his political roadmap. The king, after seizing

power in February, had said that he would take three years to

defeat 'terrorism' and restore democracy.

http://www.kantipuronline.com/kolnews.php?&nid=60545

 

Bush asks Nepal's King Gyanendra to reconcile: report

Kathmandu : Less than a week after Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam

Saran met Nepal's King Gyanendra with a message from Prime Minister

Manmohan Singh urging the monarch to reconcile with the political

parties, US President George W. Bush has written to the monarch with

the same message, a report said.

 

US ambassador to Nepal James Francis Moriarty handed over the letter

to the king at a kept-under-the-wraps meeting in the Narayanhity

royal palace here Friday, the Kathmandu Post daily reported Tuesday.

 

Quoting an unnamed source, the report said the letter urged the king,

who has been on a collision course with the parties for nearly three

years now, to reach out to them and "start a democratic process".

 

In answer, the king reportedly told the envoy that he was committed

to multi-party democracy and had already started the democratic

process by announcing civic elections on Feb 8, 2006 to be followed

by general elections the same year.

 

However, there was no official confirmation. The US embassy here

declined to comment on the report. The reported interaction between

Gyanendra and the American envoy virtually mirrors what the king told

Saran, who met the monarch last Tuesday, during his three-day visit

here.

 

The king told the Indian envoy he was committed to multi-party

democracy and constitutional monarchy. India sent the message that it

wanted a reconciliation between the constitutional forces in Nepal,

meaning the king and the political parties.

 

King Gyanendra has been at loggerheads with the major parties since

October 2002, when he sacked prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and

appointed three premiers of his own choosing, ignoring the

recommendations of the parties.

 

The rift became a chasm since February this year when the king seized

direct power with the help of the army, jailed top political leaders

and imposed a state of emergency suspending civil rights and media

freedom.

 

Though the state of emergency has been lifted, the parties, who won

over 90 percent seats in the last general elections, have said they

would boycott all polls held by the king.

 

Instead of effecting a reconciliation with the parties and starting

peace talks with the Maoist insurgents, the king has said he would go

ahead with the polls irrespective of the boycott and threats by the

communist rebels to disrupt the polls.

 

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