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Nepal's prime minister announces resignation

AFP

Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda pauses while speaking to the press after returning from a visit to China, in Kathmandu on 27 August 2008. Prachanda announced his resignation after the president overturned his decision to sack the army chief.File photo/Reuters/Shruti Shrestha/Nepal

Nepal’s Prime Minister Prachanda announced his resignation Monday after an attempt by his Maoist government to sack the head of the army was blocked by the president.

“I have resigned from the post of prime minister from today for the protection of democracy and peace,” Prachanda said in a televised address to the nation.

Nepal’s Maoist government fired General Rookmangud Katawal for refusing to integrate former Maoist rebel soldiers into the regular army under the terms of a 2006 peace deal that ended a decade of civil war.

But President Ram Baran Yadav, a member of the main opposition party, has told the head of the army — traditionally a bastion of Nepal’s elite and the former monarchy — to stay put.

“The move by the president is an attack on this infant democracy and the peace process,” Prachanda said, accusing the president of having taken an “unconstitutional and undemocratic decision.”

Copyright © 2009 AFP

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