King cedes power

last updated 8 January 2015

Kathmandu, Nepal

Tens of thousands of Nepalese marched through Kathmandu in a victory parade this week after King Gyanendra agreed to reinstate the parliament. Opposition parties had been holding huge pro-democracy rallies every day for the past three weeks, since the anniversary of the day the king took absolute power in a coup last year. They have now named former Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, 84, as the new head of government. But it’s still unclear whether calm will return to the country. Maoist guerrillas, who have been fighting the government for a decade and control much of the northern countryside, rejected the deal and called for the abolition of the monarchy.