The New Nation - Internet Edition

Nepal goes to historic election today

AP, Katmandu

Violence on the eve of a landmark election meant to cement a peace deal with Nepal's communist insurgents left at least seven people dead, officials said Wednesday, with police killing at least one protester and six former rebels in separate clashes.

The vote is intended to bring sweeping change to this long-troubled Himalayan country, and will likely mean the end of a royal dynasty that has ruled for centuries. But the clashes made clear that fashioning a lasting peace in this impoverished, ill-governed and frequently violent country won't be easy.

"For the peace process to be successful, the election needs to be credible," said Yubaraj Ghimire, editor of the newsweekly Samay. "It's not clear that it will be."

The demonstrator was killed after police fired on a mob of hundreds smashing shops and vandalizing buses to protest the slaying a day earlier of a candidate in the mountainous Surkhet district, said the area's police chief, Ram Kumar Khanal.

Authorities in the remote district had already imposed a curfew, which remained in place.

They also said they would delay the election in the area by at least a week, though the vote would go ahead in the rest of the country.

Thursday's election is the first in the two years since King Gyanendra was forced to end his royal dictatorship and the Maoists, as the former rebels are known, gave up their 10-year fight for a communist state that left about 13,000 people dead.

For the 27 million people of Nepal, wedged between Asian giants India and China, the vote brings a promise of peace and an economic revival in this grindingly poor land that often more closely resembles medieval Europe than a modern state.

After weeks of near-daily clashes between supporters of rival parties and a handful of small bombings, the mood on the eve of the election is one of ambivalent optimism in this country perhaps best known for its bustling backpacker scene and soaring peaks like Mount Everest. "We have no choice but to be hopeful," said Biraj Shresthra, a 43-year-old who runs a Katmandu electronics shop. "We've seen so much fighting. Maybe now it will stop."

The elections have twice been delayed, largely because of fighting by minority ethnic groups on the southern plains. The situation there is now calm, though a few groups threaten to disrupt the polls.

But most of the violence since the start of the election campaign, according to a United Nations mission overseeing the vote, has been carried out by the Maoists, whose supporters have roughed up rival candidates and attempted to intimidate voters.

On Tuesday, a gang of Maoists clashed with police in southwestern Nepal after the former insurgents tried to attack a prominent candidate from a rival party. Initial reports said one person had been killed, but police said Wednesday that six were slain.

The Maoists - with 20,000 ex-fighters camped across the country - are the wild card in the vote. Their weapons are in locked but easily accessible containers under a U.N.-monitored peace deal.

It would be easy for them to return to the bush if they don't like the election results.

For now, the Maoists say they will respect the voters' decision, and their leader urged restraint following Tuesday's clash with police.

Top US Gen wants halt to US troop cuts amid violence concerns

AP, Washington

The U.S. general commanding the Iraq war called for an open-ended suspension of American troop withdrawals this summer, reflecting concern about a recent flare-up in violence.

Gen. David Petraeus' recommendation leaves open the possibility that few, if any, additional troops will be brought home before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January.

Petraeus told a Senate hearing Tuesday that he recommends a 45-day "period of consolidation and evaluation" once the extra combat forces that Bush ordered to Iraq last year have completed their pullout in July. He said the past year's progress is "fragile and reversible," and he did not commit to any additional troop withdrawals beyond July.

"This process will be continuous, with recommendations for further reductions made as conditions permit," he said.

"This approach does not allow establishment of a set withdrawal timetable. However, it does provide the flexibility those of us on the ground need to preserve the still fragile security gains our troopers have fought so hard and sacrificed so much to achieve."

The plan gives Petraeus maximum flexibility at a time of rising violence in Baghdad and some other parts of the country. It runs counter to Democrats' push for a more rapid reduction in the U.S. military commitment and a faster transfer of responsibility to the Iraqi government.

Petraeus said his approach is intended to "form a foundation for the gradual establishment of sustainable security in Iraq." But he did not say when he thought that goal would be reached. "Withdrawing too many forces too quickly could jeopardize the progress of the past year," Petraeus said.

Bush has said he intended to accept Petraeus' recommendation. On Thursday, the president will make a speech about the war, now in its sixth year, and his decision about troop levels.

Under questioning by Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Petraeus said he could not predict when troop reductions would be resumed or how many U.S. troops were likely to remain in Iraq by the end of this year.

NATO soldier among 35 killed in Afghan violence

AFP, Kandahar

At least 35 people, including 17 civilians and a NATO-led soldier, were killed Tuesday in the latest violence to hit insurgency-hit Afghanistan, officials said.

In a single incident, 17 civilian roadworkers were killed and almost as many others were injured when Taliban rebels attacked them in the southern province of Zabul, the country's interior ministry said.

"The enemies attacked civilian roadworkers in Zabul this morning. Seventeen civilian roadworkers were martyred and 16 others were injured," ministry spokesman Zemarai Bashary told AFP. In a subsequent counter-attack by Afghan and foreign security forces, seven militants were killed and a dozen more were wounded, the spokesman said, adding that six vehicles belonging to the roadworkers were also destroyed. "After the incident, the (Afghan) national army, police and international forces went to the area and chased the enemies away, killing seven enemies and wounding 12 others," Bashary said.

Obama gaining on Clinton in Pennsylvania

CNN, Washington

Sen. Barack Obama continues to chip away at Sen. Hillary Clinton's lead in the crucial state of Pennsylvania, a new Quinnipiac poll out Tuesday showed. art.obam.hill.gi.jpg Sen. Barack Obama appears to be closing the gap with Sen. Hillary Clinton in Pennsylvania, polls say. The New York senator's lead over Obama now stands at 6 points in the new poll, 50-44 percent. That compares to the 9-point lead Clinton held in a similar survey released five days ago, and an 11-point lead in a Quinnipiac survey late last month. Specifically, Clinton has lost ground among white voters and men: She now holds an 18-point lead among whites, down from a 25-point gap in last week's poll, and trails Obama by 4 points among males.

Tibetan task force seeks talks with Beijing

AFP, New Delhi

A Tibetan exile group set up by the Dalai Lama to push for greater autonomy for the Himalayan region on Wednesday offered to travel to Beijing to resume a dialogue about their homeland's future. "We want to reopen the talks to resolve the Tibetan issue through the process of dialogue and whenever it is convenient for the Chinese authorities our special envoys could travel to Beijing," said spokesman Thubten Samphel. He was speaking during a three-day meeting of the task force, which includes prominent Tibetan exiles from around the world. The meeting was called to assess the situation in Tibet following the biggest anti-Chinese unrest in nearly two decades, which Tibetan exiles say has left 150 Tibetans people dead. Beijing says Tibetan rioters have killed 20.