AP: Nepal Maoists join parliament after 10 years of war

Nepal Maoists join parliament after 10 years of war
by Deepesh Shrestha 1 hour, 37 minutes ago
KATHMANDU (AFP) - After waging a bloody insurgency for a decade, Nepal's Maoist rebels have taken a quarter of the seats in a new parliament as they enter the political mainstream.

Nearly nine months after the rebels and the government reached a ceasefire deal, members of a new 330-seat parliament, including 83 Maoists, were due to be sworn-in after the cabinet approved an interim constitution at the weekend.

The current parliament began sitting Monday morning with speeches from political party leaders, and was due to approve the interim constitution to make way for the new parliament.

The new house was expected to meet for the first time Monday afternoon.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070115/wl_asia_afp/nepalpolitics

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Great news! Peace at last.

UPDATED: 08:15, January 16, 2007

Nepali Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala ... said the <Communist Party of Nepal>'s decision to enter main politics by laying down their arms is of significant importance. He also asked the MPs to withdraw their amendment proposals to ease the process.

"The interim constitution has been unanimously promulgated at 7: 00 p.m. after no 'nays' were heard during voice voting," Speaker Subash Nembang said. The interim constitution has 25 Parts, 167 Articles and three Annexes.

The interim legislature -- expected to be set up immediately after the promulgation of the constitution -- will pronounce the final ratification of the statute and then, the interim statute will formally come into effect in the country.

http://english.people.com.cn/200701/16/eng20070116_341459.html