Asia and Oceania

Nepal
Last reviewed: 09 September 2009

Country information

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History

The five city-states of the Kathmandu Valley, in which the culture of the Malla Kings flourished from the 14th to the 17th centuries, were conquered by the ruler of the central hill state of Gorkha in the mid 18th century. Prithvi Narayan Shah is looked upon as founder of the nation. Further expansion by the Shahs in the early 19th century brought them into conflict with British India. Following the Anglo-Nepal war of 1816 the Treaty of Sugauli was signed. The first British Resident was posted to Kathmandu in 1816, with the British remaining the only foreign diplomatic presence in the capital for well over a century. In 1846 the Shah dynasty were deprived of executive rule by Jung Bahadur Rana, who established a line of hereditary Prime Ministers which ruled until 1951 when King Tribhuvan in a 'Palace revolution' re-established the Shahs as rulers of the country with a cabinet of Ministers drawn from the Nepali Congress Party. In 1960 King Mahendra assumed direct rule and drew up a new Constitution based on the 'partyless' Panchayat (5 man village council) system.

In early 1990, during King Birendra's reign, following widespread agitation for a multi-party democracy, Nepal experienced a virtually bloodless 'revolution' and a new Constitution was promulgated in November of that year which retained the constitutional Monarchy as Head of State but introduced a full parliamentary system of government. The Nepali Congress party formed a government which ruled from 1991-94. From 1994-1999 there were five successive coalition governments.

It was against this unstable political background that in February 1996, the leaders of the Maoist United People's Front began a violent insurgency, waged through killings, torture, bombings, kidnappings, extortion, and intimidation against civilians, police, and public officials in more than 50 of the country's 75 districts. Over 13,000 police, civilians, and insurgents were killed in the conflict and around 1,500 people were 'disappeared'.

The former monarch, King Gyanendra, came to the throne in June 2001 following the murder of King Birendra by his son, the then Crown Prince Dipendra, who subsequently shot and killed himself. After Sher Bahadur Deuba was appointed Prime Minister on 22 July 2001 he announced a unilateral ceasefire against the Maoists, which they reciprocated immediately. The Maoists broke the ceasefire in November 2001, in response to which Prime Minister Deuba declared a State of Emergency. The conflict intensified over the following year and drew in the full participation of the Royal Nepal Army (RNA).

On 4 October 2002 King Gyanendra, citing fears over the handling of the insurgency announced that he had requested Deuba's resignation, and that he would be appointing a transitional government of his own choosing. On 29 January 2003 a cease-fire was once again agreed between the Maoists and the transitional government but peace talks failed and the Maoists unilaterally ended the cease-fire on 27 August 2003. On 1 February 2005 the King deposed the Government, putatively for failing in its mandate to hold elections by April, and took power directly himself. The takeover was met with widespread international criticism from India, the US, the EU and the UK. On 14 April the King announced his intention to restore democracy by holding municipal elections in February 2006 followed by national elections by April 2007.

In September 2005 the Maoists announced a three-month unilateral ceasefire and in November 2005, the Maoists and seven of the political parties (the Seven Party Alliance) announced a 12 point understanding aimed at ending the King's autocratic rule and restoring democracy.

Following weeks of nation-wide civil unrest in April 2006, the King handed power to the political parties and reinstated Parliament. G P Koirala was sworn in as Prime Minister on 30 April 2006 and proposals to hold elections to a Constitutional Assembly and hold peace talks with the Maoists were passed.