[cma-l] Community broadcasters work to end political deadlock

[Steve Buckley]

...in Nepal

>From: "info at acorab.org.np" <info at acorab.org.np>
>Date: Fri, 7 May 2010 10:08:36 -0400
>
>ACORAB campaigns to end the political deadlock in Nepal
>
>
>'Campaign for Peace and National Consensus' - a joint initiative of
>Association of Community Radio Broadcasters Nepal (ACORAB) and other media
>organizations facilitated to organize a meeting among the top three
>political party leaders of Nepal on May 5 in order to create media pressure
>for building confidence among the political parties, ending standoff among
>them and reaching into national consensus.
>
>The CPN (Maoist) party is enforcing the indefinite general strike since May
>2 in an attempt to formation of a national consensus government in its
>leadership. Maoist agitators continue to stage demonstrations in various
>places across the country. At the meantime, the government blames the
>Maoist unconstitutional steps to unseat the government complicating the
>political situation of the country and hindering to end logical of peace
>process of the country.
>
>After a decade long civil war, the CPN Maoist and the seven-party alliance
>reached a twelve- point agreement in 2005 that expressed areas of agreement
>between the CPN Maoist and the seven political parties. After the people
>movement of 2006, a comprehensive peace accord was signed by the government
>and CPN maoist, which formally ended the armed conflict. CPN maoist was
>also able to be established as the largest party in the Constituent
>Assembly election of 2008, which enabled them to form a coalition
>government on the premiership of Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda'. In May
>2009, Prachanda led government resigned after disputes over the Army Chief
>and the President's role. Another coalition government led by current prime
>minister Madav Kumar Nepal was formed. Since then, maoists have been
>protesting against the government demanding a national coalition government
>on their leadership. The Constituent Assembly is also supposed to
>promulgate new constitution by 28th May 2010.
>
>The following leaders of three main political parties participated at the
>meeting in an effor to end the deadlock.
>
>Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist):
>i) Pushpa Kamal Dahal "Prachanda" ­ Chairman
>ii) Mohan Baidya "Kiran" ­ Vice Chairman
>iii) Dr. Babu Ram Bhattarai ­ Vice Chairman
>iv)Dev Gurung ­ Polit Bureau Member
>
>Nepali Congress:
>i) Sushil Koirala ­ Acting President
>ii) Sher Bahadur Deuba ­ Senior Leader
>iii)Ram Chandra Poudel ­NC Parliamentary Party Leader
>iv) Bimalendra Nidhi ­ General Secretary
>v) Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat ­ NC Central Committee Member
>vi) Arjun Narsingh K.C. ­ Spokesperson
>vii) Krishna Sitaula ­ NC Central Committee Member
>
>Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist and Leninist):
>i) Jhal Nath Khanal ­ Chairman
>ii) Ishwor Pokharel ­ General Secretary
>iii) Bishnu Poudel ­ Secretary
>iv) Bharat Mohan Adhikari ­ Standing Committee Member
>v) Pradeep Gyawali ­ Politbureau Member
>
>
>Leaders said after the two-hour long meeting that they had "serious
>discussion" on finding a way out of the current standoff, and made a "real"
>progress. Maoist Vice Chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha said the three parties
>expressed commitment to forge consensus through dialogue.
>
>Normal life has been badly hit across the country due to the prolonged
>strike. People have been stranded in various places due to lack of
>transportation. Essentials are in short supply in almost all cities due to
>lack of transportation. Marketplaces, educational institutions, banks and
>industries have also remained closed for almost a week now. Daily wage
>workers are badly hit due to the strike as they have not been able to work
>for many days.
>
>The campaign is a joint initiative of ACORAB, Federation of Nepalese
>Journalists (FNJ) Media Society, Broadcasting Association of Nepal (BAN)
>and Television Broadcaster s Nepal (TBN).
>
>The campaign members held separate meetings with all three political party
>leaders on May 4, convincing them to sit for dialogue. A series of
>top-level meetings were held before and after the Maoists launched their
>agitation, but none of them arrived at any conclusion even as leaders
>claimed they were close to a negotiated settlement.
>
>ACORAB had also joined hands with Federation of Nepalese Chambers of
>Commerce and Industries on April 30 to organize public discussion among the
>political parties to avoid the strike and end the deadlock. Community
>Information Network (CIN)- an information and communication satellite
>network of ACORAB- made a coverage of the discussion programme and the
>programme was broadcast "live" through more than 130 community radios
>across Nepal.
>
>
>Association of community Radio Broadcasters Nepal
>Chakupat-10, Lalitpur,
>P.O. Box: 19324
>Tel: ++ 977 1 5551161, 5551171
>Fax: ++ 977 1 5548406
>Email: info at acorab.org.np
>www.acorab.org.np
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