Nepal's Former Rebel Chief Takes Over a Fragile Republic

KATMANDU, Nepal - Two years after laying down their arms, Nepal's Maoists have taken power through the ballot box, with their leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal — better known by his nom de guerre, Prachanda — forming a government this month as prime minister of the new republic.

The transformation is remarkable even by the standards of South Asia. Prachanda led a decade-long insurgency that killed 13,000 people before a 2006 peace deal brought the Maoists into politics and ended 240 years of monarchy.

The assembly that elected him abolished the throne in May, sending King Gyanendra into private life and converting the world's last Hindu monarchy into a secular federal republic.

Prachanda's first trip abroad was to Beijing for the Olympic closing ceremony — a choice noted in India, which has long regarded Nepal as within its sphere. He has promised land reform, jobs and integration of 19,000 former guerrillas into the national army.

The challenges are staggering: Nepal is among the world's poorest countries, its politics are fractured among more than two dozen parties, and the new constitution remains unwritten.

"The war is over," a Katmandu newspaper editorialized. "Now the Maoists must learn that governing is harder than fighting."

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Associated Press writers contributed to this report.

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