Political crisis brews over sacking of Nepal army chief

May 3, 2009, 7:40 GMT

   Kathmandu - Nepal's Maoist-led government Sunday sacked army chief Rupmangat Katuwal, a move that is threatening to bring down the government and derail the peace process.

   The Maoists angered some members of their ruling coalition by dismissing the army chief on charges of insubordination accusing him of disobeying orders despite opposition from the coalition members.

   'Rupmangat Katuwal has been removed as per the army regulations,' Minister for Information and Communications Krishna Bahadur Mahara said. 'He will be replaced by the second in command, General Kul Bahadur Khadka, as the acting army chief.'

Ministers of three coalition parties walked out Sunday morning's cabinet meeting to protest the decision.

   'We decided to boycott the meeting because the Maoists have ignored our proposal to seek consensus on the issue from other political parties,' Jayaprakash Prasad Gupta of ethnic Madhesi Janadhikar Forum said. 'We will consult our party to decide our next move.'

   Deputy Prime Minister Bam Dev Gautam, who leads the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist Leninist party (CPN-UML) in government, said the move was against what his party had advised.

   'We had sought consensus on the issue but the Maoists have gone ahead and decided to take matters into their own hands,' Gautam said. 'Our position is very clear, the action on the army chief must be in accordance with the consensus of all parties in the parlament.'

CPN-UML, the third-largest party in the constituent assembly with 110 seats, said it would quit the government if the Maoists stuck by the decision to sack Katuwal.

   Relations between the army and Defence Minister Ram Bahadur Thapa, who is also a senior Maoist politician, have been strained since the army recruited nearly 3,000 new soldiers in July.

   Thapa had tried to block the recruitment but the army went ahead after the Supreme Court ruled it was legal.

   The Maoists also clashed with army after the defence minister sent eight generals into retirement despite requests from the army headquarters to extend their term by another three years.

   The generals challenged the government decision in the court, which ordered they be reinstated.

   Political analysts say hostility between the army and the Maoists, who fought a bitter war during communist insurgency, still remains two and half years after a peace agreement ended the conflict.

   The opposition Nepali Congress has accused the Maoists of trying to capture absolute power by meddling with the army and appoint their own people to top positions.