KATMANDU, NEPAL, July 25, 2001: The leader of Nepal’s Maoist guerrillas claimed that the group has formed a cartel of South Asian militant groups, and his rebels were inching toward success in transforming this Himalayan kingdom into a communist republic. “The people’s revolution shall be completed very soon, not in the remote future,” the Maoist supreme leader, Prachanda, said in a rare comment to the media. “Our dream is to turn this tiny but great country into a model country in a few years,” he said. The rebel leader announced a temporary cease-fire on Monday, responding to new Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba’s request to end the violence, but remained defiant in his demands.
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