Nepal to become republic today
Nepal stood on the brink of becoming the world's newest republic today after swearing in an assembly charged with ending 239 years of royal rule.
However, with the world's last Hindu king still living in the pink-hued, 1970s-era concrete palace that dominates central Kathmandu, political leaders were threatening to remove him by force.
"He has no choice, but if he refuses to leave the palace we will use the law to force him out of there," Baburam Bhattarai, the deputy leader of the Maoists, Nepal's former rebels, said.
A "republic will be declared tomorrow", he said after the swearing in yesterday. "Once a republic is declared the king will automatically lose his position and place in the palace."
Getting rid of the Shah dynasty, which dates to 1769, is in many ways the least of the new government's problems, as shown by a string of bombings that hit Kathmandu on Monday and yesterday, apparently aimed at pro-republic politicians and activists.
While the four bombings only wounded two people, they underscored how difficult it will be to fashion lasting peace and bring widespread prosperity to this Himalayan land that was bled for a decade by the Maoist uprising and is still regularly bloodied by political violence.
Yesterday's swearing in of 575 MPs - another 26 are to be appointed later - marked a major step in the peace process that ended the insurgency and the culmination of the Maoists' transformation from a rebel army into a political force.
They won the most seats in April's election for the assembly and have promised to bring sweeping change to Nepal, a largely impoverished country that in many places more closely resembles medieval Europe than a modern nation.
After that, they have declared a three-day holiday. But once the celebrations end, no one is certain what will happen with the Maoists still struggling to form a government and political violence persisting.
Even in victory, the Maoists worry many in Nepal. They still have 20,000 fighters in United Nations-monitored camps spread across the country and their former fighters were recently implicated in the abduction and murder of a Katmandu businessman.
Before today's declaration of a republic, the Maoists' youth wing - a group accused of intimidating, roughing up and killing opponents - was bringing 20,000 of its own people to Kathmandu to "make sure the celebration does not get out of hand", said Sagar, the group's leader in the capital, who goes by a single name.
Authorities, meanwhile, deployed 10,000 police around the city yesterday, a day after banning protests near the convention centre and palace.
The bombings and heavy security did little to dampen the spirits of ordinary Nepalis, many of whom eagerly awaited the assembly's first session today.
"We are Nepal now. It is no longer the king's country," said Ram Shrestha, a 26-year-old shop assistant, yesterday. "Tomorrow we will celebrate and he will leave the palace."
