Sushila Karki, a former chief justice, will become the first woman to lead Nepal, to be sworn in as interim leader later on Friday after violent anti-graft protests forced Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli to resign, the president’s office said.
President Ramchandra Paudel’s office announced Karki’s appointment following negotiations between Paudel, army chief Ashok Raj Sigdel and the protesters who led Nepal’s worst upheaval in years.
Fifty-one people were killed and more than 1,300 injured this week in the anti-graft protests by the ‘Gen Z’ movement, named for the age of its mainly young supporters.
The protest was sparked by a social media ban that has since been rolled back. The violence subsided only after Oli resigned on Tuesday.
Karki, 73, would take the oath of office at 9:15 p.m. local time (1530 GMT), said Archana Khadka Adhikari, information officer at the president’s office. Two other ministers would also be sworn in along with her, local TV channels reported.
The only woman to have served as chief justice, Karki was the preferred choice of the protesters who cite her reputation for honesty and integrity and a stance against corruption.
She held the top judicial post for about a year until mid-2017.
RESTORATION OF NORMALCY
Nepal has grappled with political and economic instability since the abolition of its monarchy in 2008, while a lack of jobs drives millions to seek work in other countries and send money home.
As the country of 30 million people inched back to normality on Friday – with shops reopened, cars back on roads, and police replacing the guns they wielded earlier this week with batons – families reclaimed bodies of those killed in the protests.
Some roads were still blocked, although streets were patrolled by fewer soldiers than before.
“While his friends backed off (from the protests), he decided to go ahead,” Karuna Budhathoki said of her 23-year-old nephew, as she waited to collect his body at Kathmandu’s Teaching Hospital.
“We were told he was brought dead to the hospital.”
Another protester who died, Ashab Alam Thakurai, 24, had been married only a month earlier, his relatives said.
“The last we spoke to him … he said he was stuck with the protest. After that we could not contact him … eventually we found him in the morgue,” said his uncle, Zulfikar Alam.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
