December 9, 2005: The Communist Party organized a large anti-king demonstration against the king, who is more popular in the countryside than in the urban areas. The Maoist rebellion is, essentially, a war between the poor and powerless countryside (where most of the population lives) and the urban areas.
December 7, 2005: The king reorganized his cabinet, putting in charge people with more experience dealing with Nepalese at the village level.
December 6, 2005: In western Nepal, the army skirmished with Maoists, killing two of them. The cease fire often breaks down when local Maoist bands cannot control their violence.
December 2, 2005: The Maoists have extended their unilateral ceasefire by a month. The Maoists, who are led by radical members of the country's tiny ruling class (of rich merchant and land owning families), believe that they can form a coalition with their more moderate (and democratic) cousins who run the political parties, for force the king out of power. The king has the support of most Nepalese, who see the landowning families as the real enemy, and don't much like the doctrinaire and brutal Maoists either.
