From war to peace in Nepal

This man has a complicated name but he is better known as Prachanda, the Fierce.
For ten years he drove tens of thousands of Nepalese Maoists in a bloody war against the ancient pluricentenaria monarchy and its one hundred thousand soldiers, in a country of nearly 30 million inhabitants. The war has killed more than 13 thousand, there has been abuse, kidnappings, torture, massacres, atrocities of all kinds. Both armies were responsible, civilians have been the victims, as always.
In 2006 the opposition parties and the Maoists agreed on a democratic programme based on the abolition of monarchy, and the war is over. The King did everything to oppose this but in the end there were democratic elections, supervised by an international team of observers led by Jimmy Carter, former President of the United States. The American government has the Nepalese Maoists on a list of terrorists!
Civilians, once victims, have become actors and democratically voted for a constituent assembly in which the Maoists have easily won a majority of seats, contrary to all expectations of Western observers.
Other parties to win elections were the autonomous southern ones struggling with strikes and weapons for the rights of Madhesi people, majority in the rich southern plains. Whoever called Madhesi to boycott was repudiated by the great participation in the vote.
The ferocious Prachanda has led his supporters in the war and now leads them to peace, in a democracy that will write a new constitution, abolishing the monarchy and its privileges, making agrarian reform and seeking good relations with powerful neighbours, India and China.
The people were called to vote and gave him great confidence. Confidence will be removed if the promises of the Maoists not become reality.

Bruno Picozzi (in translation)