Posted on: Thursday, February 10, 2005
EDITORIAL
The crisis in Nepal deserves our attention
Like Hawai'i, the isolated Himalayan kingdom of Nepal is largely dependent on tourism. So it's understandable that residents are frustrated at the government's inability to quell a violent insurrection by Maoist rebels that has claimed more than 10,000 lives and kept many tourists away.
However, King Gyanendra's draconian methods to take control, which include dismissing the elected interim government, suspending civil liberties, imposing a communications blackout (international telephone service has since been restored) and jailing dozens of opposition politicians and activists, do not bode well for the restoration of democracy.
Maoist rebels have waged an eight-year battle to overthrow the nation's constitutional monarchy and replace it with a communist republic.
They have been able to seize control of great swaths of rural Nepal through promises to overturn the country's feudal system in which the upper classes own most of the land and private industry. About 40 percent of Nepalese live in dire poverty, and the country's health and education systems have virtually collapsed.
The insurgency has shown no sign of abating. That has given King Gyanendra, who rose to power after his brother, King Birendra, died in a 2001 palace massacre, an opportunity to take matters into his own hands and install a feudal autocracy. Since Gyanendra fired the prime minister in 2002, Nepal has been without a working legislature.
The result is a three-way power struggle among the king, the political parties and the armed rebels. The turmoil has made life untenable for the majority of Nepalese.
Nepal receives about $40 million a year in economic and military aid from the United States. We have some leverage in persuading the king to reconsider his methods of dealing with political opposition.
If there is, as the Bush administration says, a U.S. policy to fight tyranny and protect democracy overseas, Nepal should be on the rescue list.
