WEDNESDAY, MARCH 02, 2005
Fidel Castro supports Nepal king
IANS
KATHMANDU: After China, Russia and Pakistan, a fourth country has expressed support for Nepal's beleaguered King Gyanendra - Cuba.
Communist Cuba, ruled by President Fidel Castro for over five decades, expressed support for Nepal's new regime that is fighting Maoist insurgents, saying the recent political developments in the Himalayan kingdom were Nepal's "internal matter".
Cuba's Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Abelardo Morento is in Kathmandu on an unofficial visit, at a time when the international community has been condemning Gyanendra's actions and several high-level delegations have put off their visits.
Morento, who handed over a letter from Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque to Nepal's newly appointed Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey on Tuesday, said Cuba supported Nepal's efforts to establish peace, the state media reported.
The visiting envoy said the Nepalese are capable of resolving their internal problems by themselves and hoped the current government in Nepal headed by Gyanendra would successfully address the country's internal problems, the state-owned Rising Nepal daily said on Wednesday.
The king took over the government on February 1 by dismissing Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba and imposing a state of emergency that put former ministers and political leaders under detention.
While the international community led by India, the US and Britain have condemned the royal coup and urged the restoration of multiparty democracy and the release of all detainees, China, Russia and Pakistan have called it an internal matter of Nepal.
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