Ok this is a more complete report from a newsgroup that I subsribe to. Nepalese king ousts government ISN SECURITY WATCH (01/02/05) - Nepalese King Gyanendra has dissolved the country?s government and placed ousted government leaders under house arrest, accusing them of failing to ?protect democracy?in the restive Himalayan Kingdom. ?I have decided to dissolve [the government] because it has failed to make necessary arrangements to hold elections by April [2005] and protect democracy, the sovereignty of the people and life and property,?the king said on Tuesday, after ousting Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and his coalition government. The monarch denied that his actions amounted to a coup d?etat. The king has declared a state of emergency in Nepal, and all communication links with the outside world, including Internet and telephone, were cut shortly after the declaration. The Associated Press has reported that soldiers have already surrounded Deuba?s residence and the houses of other government leaders in the capital Kathmandu. Security forces have been deployed in front of all government establishments including post offices, telecommunications centers, and banks, according to Agence France Presse. King Gyanendra has reportedly said a new Cabinet would be formed under his leadership to ?restore peace and effective democracy in the next three years". On Monday, The Himalayan Times (THT) reported that Gyanendra had summoned the prime minister to an emergency meeting to take stock of the situation on the ground and to discuss the possibility of holding elections to the House of Representatives in April. ?Deuba failed to convince the King of his efforts to garner support for the polls from all coalition partners,?an unnamed source close to the government told THT. He was fired for the first time in October 2002 for failing to contain the Maoist insurgency, which has ensued in the Hindu kingdom since 1996. Deuba was reinstated in June 2004 on two conditions: that he make peace with the Maoist rebels or begin the polling process. Deuba failed on both fronts. Maoist rebels rebuffed the government?s latest attempt to restart negotiations when they failed to respond to a 13 January deadline to hold peace talks. Since then, many members of the coalition government and opposition parties have indicated an unwillingness to hold elections amid the continuing bloodshed. The main coalition partners - the Communist Party of Nepal and the Rastriya Prajatantra Party - have not voiced their support for the elections, as the Maoist rebels have indicated they would unleash a bloodbath if the poll took place. So far, the ongoing conflict between government forces and Maoist rebels has claimed more than 10?00 lives. The Maoists rebels have been fighting to overthrow the monarch and institute a communist regime. King Gyanendra ascended to Nepal's throne in June 2001 when then crown prince Dipendra killed his father, King Birendra, and other members of his family before killing himself in the infamous ?Palace massacre? Kalim Bahadur, a former professor and a well-known political analyst based in New Delhi told ISN Security Watch on Tuesday that the latest development in Nepal was ?not conducive to democracy? He suggested that the king was using the government?s failure to ?protect democracy?as an opportunity to increase his own power. He said the king had earlier displayed his tendencies towards ?strengthening the authoritarian regime? In neighboring India, officials reacted cautiously to the news. ?We will continue to support the restoration of political stability and economic prosperity in Nepal - a process that requires reliance on the forces of democracy and the support of the people of Nepal. These developments constitute a serious setback to the cause of democracy in Nepal and cannot but be a cause of grave concern to India,?the Indian Foreign Ministry said in a Tuesday statement. (By Animesh Roul in New Delhi)