Things have been happening fast here in Nepal the last two days. (Never thought I would be saying that!) A few hours after I wrote the previous blog post here (Nepal’s Maoists: Helpless in Power), things really started happening. I’ll not go into great detail since the big news media have it all covered, but these are the headlines

•    Maoist govt. sack chief of army staff
army chief refuse to step down

•    Second largest party quit coalition government
the so-called ‘united-marxist-leninist-communist party’. Oh yeah, we have some really RED parties here in Nepal!

•    18 opposition parties ask the president to revoke the sacking of the army chief.
Not because they disagree, it is not clear if they do or not, but because they weren’t asked nicely and invited for a cup of tea.

•    The president reinstates army chief
it’s now being debated who has the authority to hire/fire army chiefs. The president (who is the supreme army commander) or the minister of defense.

•    The Maoists resign from government
protesting ‘president’s unconstitutional move’.

•     Street protests for and against the president’s move
Not what I would call popular protests, but each party has it’s youth wing / student union of supporters, ranging from deadpans to intellectuals, who are called into action at times like these

•    Efforts start to form new govt.
Both the Marxist-leninist-brothers and the Maoists express desire to lead new govt. If Maoist, perhaps new person as PM (Bhattarai?)

•    Video emerges: Prachanda admits lying to the UN!
about Maoist-PLA army strength. The real number, he appears to be saying, was 7-8000, not 35000. Ha-ha, they bought it! After this video is released, he resorts to the usual round of wild “it’s a conspiracy”-allegations.

I’m sure this charade ain’t over yet. I’m not even going to dare guessing what’s next. Just leave you with this link to a really good account of the political mess from Rhoderick Chalmers (ICG), where he says:

“Nepal risks throwing away the chance of peace… By going it alone they [Maoists] snubbed their own partners and suggested they have little patience for building agreement on sensitive issues…

Yes, the army has been playing politics… But it is a sad comment on the state of Nepal’s politics that the generals have been far more diligent in opposing the Maoists than the parties entrusted with that task.
In response to the Maoist draft constitution, the Nepali Congress only managed to present the constituent assembly with a short letter outlining basic principles. The army, in contrast, submitted - unprompted and supposedly in top secrecy - two weighty volumes on national security policy and “fundamental national policy”, covering everything from protecting the country’s genepool to enhancing agricultural productivity. For good measure it threw in a detailed set of constitutional recommendations, including a demand that the current commitment to army “democratisation” be revoked”