Update 19: Nepal Opposition Calls Off Protests

[WhiteTara]

http://www.forbes.com/business/businesstech/feeds/ap/2006/04/25/ap2693727.html
Nepal's opposition alliance on Tuesday formally called off weeks of pro-democracy protests after the king gave in to a key demand to reinstate Parliament, and said it would work closely with the country's communist insurgents.

The opposition leaders also said they wanted former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, the head of the country's largest party, the Nepali Congress, to head a new government, party officials said.

The king's announcement, which came near midnight Monday, was a pivotal concession after weeks of mass protests that threatened to force him from power. The protests sparked clashes with security forces that left 14 demonstrators dead and the country dangerously volatile.

"People Power Wins" the Kathmandu Post, an English-language newspaper, blared in enormous letters at the top of its Tuesday edition.

The seven-party alliance, which will take the lead when Parliament is reconvened in the coming days, also said it planned to declare a cease-fire with the Maoist guerrillas once a new government is formed.

"We will work together with the Maoists," Krishna Sitaula, a top Nepali Congress official and alliance spokesman, said after emerging from closed-door discussions among party leaders.
nothing can stop the people united for justice.