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Jimmy Carter: U.S. Should Talk to Maoists

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The U.S. should talk with Nepal's former rebels who Washington still considers terrorists despite their joining mainstream politics, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter said Saturday.

Carter met Maoist leader Prachanda, who only goes by one name, and his deputy Baburam Bhattarai a day earlier when the former guerrillas urged him to help remove them from the U.S. government's terrorist list.

"My opinion is the United States should establish some communication with the Maoists because it is obvious that the people of Nepal have accepted the Maoists as playing a role in the shaping of the future of this country," Carter told reporters Saturday at the end of his four-day trip to Nepal.

Maoist rebels suspended their armed revolt last year to join a peace process, signed a peace accord and locked up their weapons and fighters in United Nations-monitored camps. They joined Parliament and government this year.

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  But the U.S. insists the former guerrillas must completely renounce violence and establish their credibility as a peaceful entity before they can be removed from the terrorist list.

"I think the United States' beneficial influence here will be increased if they can talk freely to all the parties involved," Carter said. "I hope there will be a time in the future when the United States can have free communication with all the important political players who will shape the future of Nepal."

"And obviously the Maoists have complied with the United Nations requirements. They have disarmed to some degree, they have adopted the principal of multiparty democracy in participating in the eight-party system," Carter said.

Carter arrived in Nepal on Wednesday and met top political leaders.

The Atlanta-based Carter Center, founded by the former U.S. president, is also helping the Nepalese government with Constituent Assembly elections to be held later this year.

The assembly will rewrite the constitution and decide on the country's future political structure — including the question of whether it will continue having a king, or will become a republic.

© 2007 Associated Press.

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