August 30, 2011 – The United States has stated that it hopes to work with the new Maoist prime minister of Nepal but refused to take Nepali Maoists off of its terrorism blacklist.
Dr. Baburam Bhattarai, a senior maoist leader was elected as Nepal’s new prime minister at a voting of the CA members on Sunday at the parliament of Nepal.
The United States has pledged to work with Dr. Bhattarai but his party will still remain in the terrorism blacklist thus preventing the members of the party from US travel.
The State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland was quoted by AFP saying – “While the party has taken some positive steps, we continue to have areas of concern which must be addressed before the party could be de-listed.”
The Maoists of Nepal are on the US Terrorism Exclusion List since 2004 when they were blamed for an attack on American Center in Kathmandu.