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Turmoil feared as Nepal sacks army chief
2009-05-03
KATHMANDU (AFP) - Nepal's Maoist government on Sunday fired the country's army chief for failing to comply with orders, raising fears of a showdown between the prime minister and the military. The sacking -- three years after the end of the Himalayan nation's civil war -- is the latest episode in a worsening power struggle between the leftist former rebels and their one-time enemies in the army. Information Minister Krishna Bahadur Mahara told reporters that a cabinet meeting had removed General Rookmangud Katawal from his post "as his clarification for defying the government orders was not satisfactory." Last month, Prime Minister Prachanda had asked Katawal to explain why government orders on army recruitment and the firing of eight senior army generals had been ignored. The dispute between the army and the ruling Maoists centres around Maoist demands that their former rebel fighters, who are currently confined to United Nations-supervised camps, be fully integrated into the regular army. The army has refused to take in the 19,000 hardened guerrillas whom it views as politically indoctrinated. In an indication that the government intends to impose its will on the military, Mahara said Katawal had been sacked in order to maintain "civilian supremacy" in Nepal. But Nepalese television stations reported Katawal had refused to stand down, and a military official told AFP that army generals were meeting to decide their next move. The Maoists ended their bloody decade-long "people's war" in 2006, and won landmark elections last year before swiftly ending the world's last Hindu monarchy. They have since been pushing to implement sweeping reforms, which include finalising the peace process by having their former rebel fighters become part of the national army. The issue is seen as key to cementing peace in Nepal in the aftermath of the civil war, during which more than 13,000 people died. Many of the government's coalition partners opposed the firing of Katawal and boycotted Sunday's cabinet meeting to express their disapproval. "The Maoists have made a unilateral decision and we are against it. This could derail the peace process," said Bamdev Gautam, deputy prime minister and the leader of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist (CPN-UML). The opposition Nepali Congress party described the army chief's sacking as "undemocratic and autocratic" and an attempt by the Maoists to "impose dictatorial rule" on Nepal. The army, a bastion of Nepal's former ruling elite, accuses the Maoists of not fulfilling commitments to end the paramilitary structure of their feared youth wing and to return property grabbed during the civil war. The Young Communist League is a vigilante-style group regularly accused of beatings, kidnappings, extortion and even murder. Deputy army General Kul Bahadur Khadka was appointed as the new army chief as a temporary measure, the government said.
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