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The following are key facts about Nepal:
POPULATION - 23.4 million (1999).
RELIGION - Hindu (89.5 percent), Buddhist (5.3 percent), Muslim
(2.6 percent), others including Christian (2.6 percent). Nepal
is the world's only official Hindu nation.
CAPITAL - Kathmandu.
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE - Nepali in the Devanagari script. Hindi
widely spoken. English used in official and commercial circles.
AREA - 141,181 sq km (56,827 sq miles) of plains, Himalayan
foothills and mountain ranges. Eight of the world's 14 highest
mountains, including Mount Everest, line Nepal's northern border
with the Tibet autonomous region of China. Landlocked Nepal
is bordered to the west, south and east by India.
ARMED FORCES - Total strength of about 46,000, plus 40,000
paramilitary police. No tanks, some armoured vehicles, some
artillery and anti-aircraft guns. No navy. No combat aircraft,
three transport planes, 10 helicopters. It was announced in
late December that the government bought two Russian MI-17 helicopters
which could be equipped to strike at rebel targets at night.
India also provided two helicopters. Nepali forces have served
with United Nations peacekeeping missions. Nepal is also the
home of the famous Gurkha soldiers.
MAOIST GUERRILLAS - They seek to establish a communist republic
and started their revolt in 1996. Some 2,000 people have since
died. They are estimated to number at least 5,000 and are led
by underground leader Prachanda . They run parallel administrations
in remote areas and are thought to be strong in at least 30
of Nepal's 75 districts. They take inspiration from Peru's Shining
Path guerrillas.
MONARCHY - King Gyanendra ascended to the throne in June 2001
after a drunken Crown Prince Dipendra killed his father King
Birendra, Queen Aishwarya and several other family members before
shooting himself. Gyanendra was Birendra's younger brother.
The king is in charge of the army.
POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT - The current government headed by
Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba of the centrist Nepali Congress
party is the 11th in as many years.
MODERN HISTORY - The Shah dynasty extended its rule from its
central Gurkha state over other principalities in the late 18th
century to form the Hindu Kingdom of Nepal, which remained independent
throughout European colonisation of South Asia. From 1846, the
Rana clan took over as hereditary prime ministers, closing Nepal
to foreigners until the monarchy, backed by commoners, reasserted
its power in 1951. The late king Mahendra allowed multi-party
elections in 1959. The Nepali Congress party won a victory but
its leaders were jailed in a palace coup in 1960. Later the
king banned political parties in favour of an assembly system
called the Panchayat. King Birendra, who assumed the throne
in 1972, was in power in 1990, when Nepali Congress and communist
factions rallied in mass protests demanding a multi-party system,
which was established after at least 45 people were killed.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS - Nepal accepts foreign aid from all quarters.
Sandwiched between the world's most populous nations, China
and India, it practises a cautious foreign policy, maintaining
cordial relations with both and drawing liberal foreign aid
from fellow mountain nation, Switzerland. It belongs to the
United Nations, and is an active member of the seven-nation
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation.
ECONOMY - Nepal is one of the world's poorest countries in
terms of United Nations ranking on human development based on
indicators like health and education. Natural resources are
water -- with huge hydroelectric potential -- timber, scenic
beauty and limited but fertile farmland with about 17 percent
of the country arable. About 80 percent of the people depend
on agriculture, whose main products are rice, wheat, jute, millet,
maize, sugarcane and oilseed. Industries include cigarettes,
garments, soap, matches, sugar, lumber, jute, cement, wool carpets,
gems and leather.
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