Ruling party split deepens Nepal crisis

Nepal's ruling Maoist party split into rival factions yesterday, pushing the country deeper into political turmoil after the parliament was dissolved in chaos last month.
The Maoists' break-up poses further challenges for impoverished Nepal, which has struggled to implement a peace process since the end of its bloody ten-year civil war in 2006.
National elections are due in November after an interim parliament known as the Constituent Assembly, which was set up following the war, collapsed having repeatedly failed to agree on a new constitution.
"The split will have adverse effects on the constitution-making process and the peace plan," Sudheer Sharma, editor-in-chief of the best-selling Kantipur newspaper, told AFP.
Sharma said a breakaway faction of hardline Maoists could spark fears of renewed violence in the troubled Himalayan nation.
An estimated 16,000 people died in the 1996-2006 "people's war" fought by the Maoists against the state before the rebels turned to politics and swept to power in elections two years later.