Nepal's leaders battle to avert fresh crisis

Nepal's parliament, or Constituent Assembly, was elected in 2008 with a two-year mandate to fulfil the terms of the peace agreement that followed a long civil war and write a new constitution for the world's youngest republic.

It has been unable to complete either task, despite being given an extra 12 months in 2010, and unless a fresh extension can be agreed its term will expire at midnight (1815 GMT) Saturday, leaving the country in legal limbo.

The widespread hope that followed the end of the war in 2006 and the abolition of Nepal's unpopular monarchy two years later has been replaced by a growing sense of anger and frustration in one of the world's poorest countries.

Political instability Nepal was without a government for seven months before the current prime minister was elected in February has stifled economic growth, forcing many Nepalese to seek work overseas.

This time the coalition government, which includes the leftist UML (Unified Marxist-Leninist) and Maoist parties, has proposed a bill to give the assembly more time, but does not yet have the needed two-thirds parliamentary majority.

It requires the support of the main opposition party, the centrist Nepali Congress (NC), which has said it will only vote for an extension under certain conditions.

The NC is demanding that the Maoists, who fought a 10-year war against the state before laying down their arms in 2006 and becoming a legitimate political party, hand over weapons stored in military camps to the government.

"We haven't yet been able to reach an agreement on the issues such as surrendering the arms to the government," Ram Sharan Mahat, a senior NC party leader, told AFP. "I'm not optimistic about a positive outcome."

Thousands of people have taken to the streets in recent weeks in protest against the slow pace of progress since the 2008 elections and politicians' failure to complete the constitution.

On Friday, protesters set fire to cars in Kathmandu as they tried to enforce a shutdown of the capital, and hundreds of riot police were deployed around the city ahead of Saturday's vote.

Analysts predicted the knife-edge negotiations would continue well into Saturday, and said it remained unclear what would happen if no agreement could be reached.

The speaker of the house, Subas Chandra Nemwang, said the parties had no choice but to agree.

"They have time and again said that they are committed to the peace process and the constitution," he told AFP. "I hope they will put aside their differences and reach agreement on those two vital issues."

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011