Nepal's PM quits amid Maoist uprising

[Gauracandra 1]

KATHMANDU, Nepal -- Nepal's embattled Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala has resigned, as the country struggles to deal with a growing Maoist insurgency.

 

Prime minister for most of the 10 years Nepal has had a democratic government, Koirala said he was quitting so that others could tackle the many problems facing the small Himalayan kingdom.

 

The opposition has repeatedly called for Koirala to step down over his handling of the Maoists as well as the government's involvement in a bribery scandal.

 

Koirala has also come under fire for failing to inform the country promptly about the June 1 massacre of King Birendra and eight members of the royal family by the drunken Crown Prince Dipendra.

 

Koirala, 78, rode to power in Nepal for the fourth time last year on an anti-corruption ticket. At the time he also promised to stamp out the bloody five-year-old Maoist rebellion that has killed more than 1,600 people.

 

But the Maoists, who are seeking to topple the country's constitutional monarchy, have stepped up their campaign for a communist republic in the uncertainty of the royal massacre.

 

The rebels, who model themselves after Peru's Shining Path guerrillas, have targeted police posts in recent weeks, kidnapping the entire staff of remote village police stations.

 

Even as Koirala announced his resignation, government troops closed in on Maoist rebels holding 70 policemen hostage in the remote district of Rolpa in west Nepal since last Thursday.

 

The Maoists had vowed to hold peace talks to seek an end to the rebellion if Koirala stepped down.

 

They said they would free the captives if the government released their jailed comrades, but officials rejected the offer.

 

Koirala's then deputy prime minister, Ram Chandra Poudel, resigned last Friday following differences between the two over how to contain the upsurge in Maoist violence.

 

The opposition Communist Unified Marxist-Leninist (UML) party, which has spearheaded the "oust Koirala" campaign, has accused him of failing to "protect the policemen" and mishandling the hostage crisis.

 

Dissident members of the ruling Nepali Congress party have also been pressing for Koirala's resignation in favor of younger blood in the party.

 

Corruption claims

Police check out bombs and mock bombs laid down by Maoists in the capital.

Koirala was also under pressure to step down from opposition parties over corruption allegations stemming from an aircraft leasing deal by the state airline from Austria's Lauda Air.

 

He had denied any wrongdoing.

 

Earlier on Thursday, Nepal scrapped the controversial deal by Royal Nepal Airline Corp to lease a Boeing 767 from Lauda Air.

 

Party officials said Koirala was likely to be succeeded by another leader from his centrist Nepali Congress party which commands a 113 member majority in the 205-seat lower House of Representatives.

 

Opposition parties have vowed to support "any other leader" from the Congress party if Koirala resigned. Party officials have not formally indicated a successor.