Nepal's king backs down but opposition wants more

King Gyanendra asked the opposition to name a new prime minister to run Nepal, but the three main parties said that was not enough and vowed pro-democracy protests would go on.

"We return the executive power of the country to the people," the monarch said in a televised speech after more than two weeks of tumultuous demonstrations in the capital Kathmandu and sustained international pressure.

He called for "a meaningful exercise in democracy" with elections "as soon as possible."

"We therefore request the seven-party alliance to recommend at the earliest a name for the post of prime minister who will have the responsibility to run the government," he said on state-owned Nepal television.

"We are committed to multi-party democracy and to constitutional monarchy," said the grim-faced monarch, who spoke slowly and wore a traditional topi hat.

"We hope peace and order is restored in the country."

Powerful neighbour India said it welcomed the king's "intention to transfer all executive power of the state to a government constituted by the alliance of the seven political parties."

"This action ... should now pave the way for the restoration of political stability and economic recovery of the country," a statement issued in New Delhi said.

But the three leading parties disagreed.

"The king has been defeated but the defeat is not complete," said Nepali Congress-Democratic party spokesman Minendra Rijal.

"He says he is giving power to the people but the statement is influenced by his own agenda focusing on general elections," he said.

"Anything less" than elections to a constituent assembly was "now unacceptable."

"To make sure that the autocracy is completely defeated, the movement will go on," he vowed.

For the Nepali Congress, the biggest party in the kingdom, the address was "inadequate and ambiguous," said deputy general secretary Ram Sharan Mahat.

The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) agreed.

"The king has not touched the issues raised by the seven party alliance," said spokesman Pradeep Nepal.

The alliance, which was to meet Saturday to plan the next step, launched a nationwide general strike on April 6 to force the king to relinquish the absolute power he grabbed in February 2005.

Gyanendra responded with a security clampdown that left more than a dozen dead, hundreds wounded and even more under arrest.

The king had reiterated an offer of general elections without fixing a date in a Nepalese New Year address on April 14.

But the opposition spurned the opening as pointless and this time the king went much further, appearing to give in to opposition demands.

The alliance had steadfastly refused to back down and with the popular movement strengthening called Thursday for the strike to be stepped up.

Tens of thousands of people poured onto the streets of Kathmandu on Thursday and again Friday despite a curfew and shoot-on-sight orders.

The curfew-bound streets of Kathmandu were quiet Friday night after the speech.

Gyandendra had come under intense international pressure to yield.

India sent a top envoy Thursday to tell the king he must open a real dialogue with the opposition to halt the bloodshed.

The United Nations repeatedly called for the restoration of democracy and respect for human rights as pictures of Nepalese police shooting, beating and kicking unarmed demonstrators were beamed around the world.

And the US ambassador warned Gyanendra the king must act fast to save his crown.

Gyanandra said power would return to the people as defined under the 1990 constitution which ushered in multi-party democracy after a long popular struggle under his assassinated brother Birendra.

The king, who ascended to the throne after the 2001 palace massacre, never enjoyed the popularity of Birendra, and was widely believed to oppose the 1990 constitution which transformed the ruler into a mere figurehead.

Gyanendra sacked the government in 2005, blaming politicians for failing to hold elections and to tackle a deadly Maoist insurgency which has left some 12,500 people dead in a decade.

But he was accused of carrying out a coup and tough emergency measures, a crackdown on dissidents and the media ensured he lost vital financial and military aid as well as general international support.