By IANS
Kathmandu : Nepal's flagging peace process received fresh impetus Thursday with former US president and Nobel laureate Jimmy Carter meeting Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and pledging support for the November election.
The octogenarian statesman, who arrived here on a four-day visit Wednesday, began his Nepal peace mission by meeting Koirala and lauding his role in leading the pro-democracy movement that ended King Gyanendra's 15-month absolute rule last year.
Carter, who was approached by the Nepal government three years ago to help resolve the Maoist conflict, is in the kingdom on behalf of the Carter Center, the non-profit organisation he founded in 1982 with wife Rosalynn for strengthening democracy and human rights worldwide.
The Center, invited by the ruling alliance to observe the November election, has begun monitoring security and conditions since March.
All eyes would be on Carter's meeting with Maoist chief Prachanda Friday, an encounter that has been given the maximum time in the former president's hectic schedule – a full hour.
The Maoists are still banned in the US. On the eve of Carter's visit, US Ambassador to Nepal James Francis Moriarty expressed concern that the rebels had retained arms and combatants outside camps in violation of the peace pact.
Carter has also met members of Nepal's Election Commission and would hold brief meetings with other senior politicians, Nepal Army chief Gen Rukmangad Katuwal, head of the UN Mission in Nepal Ian Martin and representatives from Dalit, Madhesi and Adivasi organisations.
Though he is not meeting King Gyanendra, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, however, has an appointment with leading businessman Prabhakar Shumsher Jung Bahadur Rana, one-time business partner of the king and considered close to the palace till his son was assaulted in public by Crown Prince Paras' companions.
Carter is also meeting Bekh Bahadur Thapa, a former ambassador to the US and India during a king-appointed government, and has said 'yes' to a brief courtesy call by Vivek Shah, former aide of the king.