Former US President in bid to save Nepal's peace process

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AFP) - The former US president Jimmy Carter Saturday proposed a compromise between Nepal's government and former Maoist rebels to break the deadlock in a stalled peace process here.

The former rebels, who ended a decade of civil war a year ago and took key government posts in a landmark peace deal, want the immediate abolition of the monarchy. They are also demanding full proportional voting contrary to a mixed first-past-the-post and proportional representation system previously agreed.

Carter told reporters at a hotel in Kathmandu that the interim Nepal parliament should vote for a Republic immediately and the outcome could be ratified by a new government following elections.

"The interim parliament can declare with an overwhelming vote that a Republic is created in Nepal, to be confirmed by a simple majority of the newly elected members of the constituent assembly as their first order of business when the assembly convenes," Carter said.

Polls for the assembly that would decide the fate of the monarchy have already been postponed twice due to wrangling between political parties and the former rebels.

The dispute between the Maoists and the mainstream parties led the former rebels to quit the government in September throwing the peace process is doubt.

Carter also suggested that the present political stalemate could be ended by allotting "70 percent of the constituent assembly seats by proportional representation and 30 percent by first-past-the-post."

The 82-year-old former president said the Maoists had continued their violent activities, including extortion and harassment, adding that "such violence is unacceptable."

During his four-day visit Carter met with Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, the former rebel leader Prachanda and other senior government officials.

 Just tell that mofo to go and tell that to his president of the most violent nation on the planet today.