The dismissal of the government in Nepal a serious setback for democracy

“The measures taken by King Gyanendra of Nepal are a serious setback for democracy in the country, and Norway is deeply concerned. This undermines the country’s lawfully elected authorities,” says Foreign Minister Jan Petersen.

“Norway encourages the Nepalese authorities to take immediate steps to restore the country’s lawfully elected government,” says Mr Petersen.

Together with other donor countries and the international community, Norway has played an active part in promoting the normalisation of the political situation in Nepal. The reinstatement of Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba in June was an important step in this direction.

“The Norwegian authorities will follow developments in Nepal closely, and will assess the implications for Norwegian development assistance in close co-operation with other donor countries,” says Minister of International Development Hilde F. Johnson.

Bilateral development assistance was introduced in 1996, and was made possible by the process of democratisation that took place during the 1990s. Today, development co-operation between Norway and Nepal focuses on governance, human rights, basic education, energy and peace-building measures. Norwegian co-operation has been based on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper adopted in 2002 by the democratically elected government at the time. The aim is to align all co-operation measures with the efforts to fight poverty and promote peace, with focus on greater provision of services for marginalised groups. At the Nepal Development Forum in May last year, the group of development partners in Nepal expressed serious concern about the problems that the lack of democracy, the armed conflict and violations of human rights caused for development efforts.

Norway has allocated NOK 95 million in bilateral development assistance to Nepal for 2005. In addition, humanitarian assistance and support measures are being provided through NGOs. Total assistance amounted to NOK 143 million in 2003. There are approximately 70 Norwegians resident in Nepal.