Kathmandu - Nepali Prime Minister Jhalanath Khanal reshuffled his cabinet on Monday, swearing in 10 new ministers in reaction to a mass resignation of his Maoist coalition partners.
The reshuffle, which included the introduction of nine Maoists and a minister from the Madhesi Janadhikar Forum into the cabinet, came in the face of an en masse resignation from the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-M).
The Maoist ministers resigned on Saturday after the prime minister refused to make the cabinet more representative of women and minorities. They subsequently withdrew their resignations, paving the way for Monday's reshuffle.
Khanal, of the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxists-Leninists (UML), became prime minister last year with the support of the Maoists.
The opposition Nepali Congress (the second largest party in the country) has called for Khanal to resign over delays in writing a new constitution.
The Maoists are the biggest elected party in government. They joined mainstream politics through the 2008 Constituent Assembly elections.
In 2006, they signed a peace deal with the government that ended a decade-long civil war, in which 16,000 people were killed.
No comments:
Post a Comment