Nepali king appoints Deuba as new PM

Nepali King Gyanendra has appointed Sher Bahadur Deuba as prime minister, who has a mandate to form an all-party government in the near future, the secretariat of the Royal Palace announced Wednesday.

King Gyanendra has given the executive power to Deuba in accordance with Nepal's Constitution 1990.

The king also urged Deuba to form a government including all the political parties, initiate peace process with the anti-government guerrillas and organize a general election of the Houseof Representatives by April next year.

Deuba, 58, is president of the Nepali Congress (Democratic) party. He was appointed as prime minister in 1995 and 2001 respectively. But on Oct. 4, 2002, King Gyanendra sacked then Prime Minister Deuba for his "incompetence" in holding the general election as scheduled.

Deuba recommended King Gyanendra to dissolve the House of Representatives in May 2002, saying that a general election would be held in November 2002. However in October that year, he recommended the king to postpone the elections by one year due to the anti-government insurgency.