Nepal PM resigns, triggering new political crisis

KATHMANDU: Nepal's prime minister resigned on Sunday, plunging the country into a fresh political crisis with competing parties unable to implement a national peace process or form a stable government.

Jhalanath Khanal, the chairman of Unified Marxist Leninist (UML) party, submitted his resignation to the country's president after talks with other party leaders collapsed, his press adviser Surya Thapa told AFP.

"He tried to forge a consensus until the last minute. But the parties failed to agree on the constitution-drafting and the peace process, so he has resigned," Thapa said.

Nepal emerged from 10 years of civil war in 2006 but lawmakers elected to write a new constitution have failed to reach a consensus on the new charter amid a series of shaky coalition administrations.

The impoverished Himalayan nation was without a prime minister for seven months until Khanal took office in February, and the parliamentary deadlock could return following his departure.

The Maoists, who fought government forces between 1996 and 2006, are the biggest party in parliament after winning 2008 elections under Pushpa Kamal Dahal, who is known by his nom de guerre, Prachanda ("the fierce one").

Khanal, 60, headed a fragile coalition government of three parties, including the Maoists, but he had said he would resign unless a deal was reached to advance the peace process.

Integrating 19,000 former Maoist rebel fighters into the army is one of the key sticking points in the peace plan, with military leaders and the opposition Nepali Congress party resisting the move.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011