India, UN promise Nepal help on the road to democracy

INDIA: India and the United Nations Thursday promised help to the Himalayan nation of Nepal in its transformation to a democracy as Nepalese officials announced a November date for the country's first post-war polls.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon discussed progress in Nepal towards democracy on the sidelines of the Group of Eight meeting in Germany, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.

"Both leaders said they looked forward to helping Nepal achieve its democratic transition in a peaceful and orderly manner," the agency quoted Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon saying.

During his talks with Singh, Ban said the UN would do whatever it could to help the process of elections, the report added.

Giant southern neighbour India is a major donor to Nepal and is a key supplier of essential goods to the landlocked nation.

On Thursday, Nepal's eight political parties announced agreement on holding elections in November. The polls had earlier been scheduled for June.

The elections will decide the future of Nepal's embattled monarch King Gyanendra, who has been stripped of most of his powers after being forced to end a much-criticised 14-month period of authoritarian rule last April.

Nepal's former rebel Maoists, who ended last year their decade-long civil war that claimed at least 13,000 lives, have been given five ministerial portfolios in the interim government. As part of a peace deal reached late in 2006, the ultra-leftists have placed their weapons and troops in camps under UN supervision.

New Delhi, Friday, AFP