A gathering of Nepalis working and residing in Nigeria have formed the Non Residence Nepali Association (NRNA), Nigeria chapter recently.

The gathering has elected Hikmat Thapa as the president of the national coordination committee, Narendra Shrestha as vice president, Navaraj Lama as General Secretary, Bidure Ghimire as Treasurer and Sushant Ghimire, Ram Bahadur Tamanag and Kuldip Pandit as members.

According to NRNA Nigeria, more then 50 Nepalis are working across Nigeria, a West African country in different capacities. nepalnews.com ia Feb 02 08

The Ministry of Finance has started the pre-consultation meeting with donors and stakeholders beginning Friday ahead of key conference with donors, which will be held on February 21 and 22 in the capital.

“We are holding thematic discussions on different subjects with the representatives of donors and other stakeholders such as media, NGOs etc,” said Bidyadhar Mallik, Secretary at the Finance Ministry.

He said that the government will be putting forth its agenda including three-year interim plan, peace process, reconstruction and development during these pre consultation and consultation meetings with development partners.

As per the schedule, the government held thematic discussion on Infrastructure Development (Roads and Water Resources) on Friday. On Sunday, similar discussions would be held on Economic Update and Reforms and Foreign Aid Policy. Likewise, on Monday, discussions would be held on Social Sector and Evolving Peace Process.

“The synthesis of these discussions would be taken up in the February 21 and 22 Donors Consultation Meeting,” said Secretary Mallik, adding that these conferences are not pledging conferences.

“We plan to hold Nepal Development Forum meeting in autumn of 2008 where we would be appealing for financial aid from the donors and development partners. We think we will need their assistance worth $ 1 billion every year for the coming five to eight years,” Mallik said. nepalnews.com sd Feb 02 08

After the taskforce led by Local Development Minister and senior Maoist leader Dev Gurung was unable to resolve the issue of forming local bodies, Friday, they have decided to forward the issue to top leadership.

The meeting of the taskforce, which includes representatives from seven parties, could not reach to any consensus after the Nepali Congress (NC) and Maoists could not be convinced with Unified Marxist Leninist (UML’s) argument for restoring the local bodies as per the previous election result.

In the 1997 local election, the UML had garnered around two-third majority.

Dev Gurung

A senior Maoist leader Dev Gurung
Minister Dev Gurung has said that the issue will now be discussed by the top leadership of the seven parties.

Since the previous local bodies’ tenure expired, a new election has not been held. Successive governments have played with installing bureaucrats or nominating local leadership to head the 58 municipalities, 75 District Development Committees (DDCs) and 3913 Village Development Committees (VDCs).

In recent times, the government-appointed VDC secretaries have also demanded that the political mechanism be appointed to lead the local bodies.

The VDC secretaries have been launching agitations demanding security and installment of local bodies. nepalnews.com sd Feb 01 08

The first month of the year 2008 has revived the hope of expanding tourism industry with increasing inflow of tourists in the country.

In January, tourist arrival has increased by around 13 percent compared to the same month last year, up by 2,895 numbers.

According to Nepal Tourism Board, although the month saw decline in the arrivals from India (-12.2 percent) and Sri Lanka (-12.5 percent) that dragged down the total arrivals from SAARC region by 7 percent, the European and North American markets have registered robust growth of 33.1 percent and 34.3 percent respectively.

Chinese tourist arrival increased by 96.8 percent, South Korean by 5.1 percent, Thai by 23.2 percent and Malaysian by 12.1 percent.

Korean market contributed more than 10 percent in the total arrivals and it is due to direct flight between Kathmandu and Seoul, NTB said. In contrast, Japanese market is down by 15.3 percent, which could be due to irregular air service of national flag carrier, NAC, to Japan, the board said.

European markets have shown positive growth this month, except Austria (-7.5 percent). The UK registered 33.9 percent growth, France 78.5 percent, Germany 4.5 percent, Spain 28.5 percent, and Netherlands registered 36.5 percent growth in tourist arrival showing increased consumer confidence towards this destination. nepalnews.com ia Feb 01 08

UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights Kyung-wha Kang and OHCHR-Nepal Representative Richard Bennett visited Kapilvastu on Friday to assess first hand on what is being done to address the causes and impact of the violence in the district last year.

OHCHR had been present in Kapilvastu at the time of the violence and called for urgent government action to protect the civilian population from further violence, to assist the victims and to ensure that those responsible for the violence were brought to justice.

The murder of one Mohit Khan on September 16 triggered five days of violence that affected Kapilvastu, Rupandehi and Dang districts. The worst violence took place in Kapilvastu where 14 were killed, nine injured and several thousands displaced.

In a statement, OHCHR said it noted some important steps taken, including investigations by a special commission of inquiry and the appointment of a Chief District Officer from the Terai region.

OHCHR said there have also been encouraging local initiatives to bring together communities divided by the violence.

The UN human rights office stressed the need for further government action to address underlying causes of the violence, including tensions related to land and social exclusion, impunity for violence related to the decade-long conflict, as well as for more recent violence, and inadequate measures to provide security.

“Local initiatives to heal divisions between communities also need more support,” it said.

“All sectors should work together to find common solutions to grievances in a non-violent way and in the spirit of the peace process” said OHCHR-Nepal Representative Richard Bennett. nepalnews.com ia Feb 01 08

The Himalaya Film Festival 2008 will be held for the 6th time in De Griffioen, the cultural centre of the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, Netherlands on 9 and 10 February.

For two days, approximately 45 films and documentaries would be screened among which 19 are from the Himalayan nation of Nepal.

“The programme offers a great diversity of footage, visitors will be treated to kaleidoscopic perceptions”, organizer Mr Glenn Mitrasing said. “The theme of the festival is ‘compassion’ which is what inspires both participants and organization. It returns throughout the programme.”

A striking example is the film A Climb for Peace featuring an Israeli and a Palestine climbing Mount Everest together. The Kashmir issue comes up in the film How We Celebrate Freedom and Tibet’s situation is referred to in 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama.

The lecture about the impact of climate change on the yak herds high in the Himalaya by the American Professor Barbara Brower is another highlight. Once she went there to teach the herds about the management and protection of high waste lands, but soon she turned out to be the one learning from the yak herds with their generations of knowledge of and experience with the most difficult rangelands on earth. However, despite their wealth of knowledge the yak herds seem to have no answer to the threats of climate change. nepalnews.com ag Feb 01 08

United Republican Front (URF), the alliance of seven ethno-political groups, has warned of strong protests across the nation from mid February if the seven parties and the government remained mum over the demands it has raised.

After a meeting in Birgunj Friday, leaders of the agitating ethno-political groups forwarded their four-point demands to be fulfilled before the constituent assembly polls.

The Front has called for a political conference involving all the agitating groups in Terai and the hills, amendment of the interim constitution, formation of an interim government before going to the CA election. It said the fourth amendment in the interim constitution should guarantee “right to self-determination” for ethnic groups in federal Nepal and adopt fully proportional election system for the upcoming polls.

They leaders of the Front also said they were ready to sit for talks with the government regarding their demands, adding that all of their protest programmes would be peaceful and disciplined.

The Front includes Limbuwan, Khumbuwan, Tharuwan, Tamsaling, Bhagyanath Gupta-led Madhesi Janadhikar Forum, Karnali Mukti Morcha, among others. nepalnews.com ia Feb 01 08

Maoist chairman Prachanda has claimed that international power centres are hatching conspiracies against constituent assembly polls as they see the possibility of his party winning majority in the polls.

CPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda
Addressing the national training programme for party cadres to accelerate the election campaign in Chitwan on Friday, Prachanda said that foreign forces are trying to foil the CA polls, hinting at the concerns expressed by US ambassador to Nepal Nancy Powell during her meeting with Indian officials recently that Maoists may dominate the vote.

He further claimed that as the party’s position in Terai is improving, the Maoists would win majority seats in the constituent assembly and asked the party cadres to intensify election campaigning.

Party workers from 33 districts in central region are attending the national training. nepalnews.com ia Feb 01 08

The Seema Surakshya Bal (SSB), the border security force of India, detained 33 cadres of the Maoist affiliated Young Communist League (YCL) in Jhapa for three hours.

The SSB arrested the YCL cadres from Maheshpur in Jhapa district at around 9:00 am on Friday when they reached the border as part of their border inspection campaign. The YCL cadres were arrested while organising a march pass along the border.

The YCL cadres had reached the border with India in Maheshpur upon completion of their campaign in Sunsari and Morang districts.

The YCL cadres said the SSB men confiscated their documents, mobile phones and other equipment. nepalnews.com ia Feb 01 08

The Election Commission (EC) has said it will require at least Rs two billion to hold constituent assembly elections successfully on the scheduled date.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Bhoj Raj Pokhrel
(File photo)
Chief Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokharel informed about the EC’s budget requirement during a meeting with the representatives of the donor communities at the commission’s office on Friday.

He also said the security situation in the Terai districts is improving in recent days and urged all sides to extend support for holding the election in a peaceful manner.

Head of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) Ian Martin, ambassadors of European nations, China and others were present at the meeting.

The representatives of the donor community expressed their readiness to support the Nepal government and the EC in holding the constituent assembly elections, stressing that elections are essential for establishing peace and stability in Nepal. nepalnews.com ia Feb 01 08