Donors want Nepal king to end emergency rule

"The donors want the state of emergency to be lifted and political detainees released and human rights abuses in Nepal stopped," Finance Minister Madhukar Shumsher Rana told AFP in Kathmandu Monday.

Last month, Gyanendra dismissed the government of impoverished Nepal, imposed emergency rule and suspended civil liberties, saying he was forced to act to tackle a nine-year Maoist revolt that has claimed over 11,000 lives.

His takeover has drawn widespread international condemnation.

Rana was speaking after returning from a Paris meeting of 127 countries and bilateral and multilateral donor organisations entitled "Enhancing the Effectiveness of Development Aid."

"The donors put some preconditions before pledging their continued support to Nepal's development," state-run English daily the Rising Nepal quoted Rana as saying.

"They (the donors) have assured us more support if the emergency is lifted and civil rights are restored," Rana said.

Meanwhile, Nepal's foreign minister met his Indian counterpart in New Delhi yesterday in the first ministerial contact between the neighbours since King Gyanendra seized power in the Himalayan kingdom.

Nepalese Foreign Minister Ramesh Nath Pandey arrived here early yesterday on a three-day working visit, a foreign ministry official said.

He held talks over lunch with Indian Foreign Minister Natwar Singh.