San Francisco Frontiers - Nepal ex-chief justice Sushila Karki named as next PM

Karki, 73, Nepal's first woman chief justice, will be sworn into office later on Friday.

The Himalayan nation of 30 million people was plunged into chaos this week after security forces tried to crush rallies by young anti-corruption protesters.

At least 51 people were killed in the worst violence since the end of a civil war and the abolition of the monarchy in 2008.

KP Sharma Oli, the 73-year-old leader of the Communist Party, quit as prime minister on Tuesday. His whereabouts are not known.

"President Ram Chandra Paudel will appoint former chief justice Sushila Karki as the prime minister," presidential press adviser Kiran Pokharel told AFP.

A swearing-in ceremony will take place at 9:00 pm (1515 GMT), he added.

Pokharel said that "a council of ministers will be formed after, and other processes will be taken from there".

The military took back control of the streets on Wednesday, enforcing a curfew, as army chief General Ashok Raj Sigdel and Paudel held talks with representatives from "Gen Z", the loose umbrella title of the youth protest movement.

"It is a moment of victory... finally the power vacuum has ended," Amrita Ban, a Gen Z protester.

Nimesh Shrestha, who was part of the Gen Z protest, told AFP that the demonstrators backed the former judge.

"We have an agreement," he told AFP. "The parliament will be dissolved. Sushila Karki will be the prime minister."

- 'Make a better Nepal' -

Protests fed into longstanding economic woes in Nepal, where a fifth of people aged 15-24 are unemployed, according to the World Bank, with GDP per capita just $1,447.

At least 21 protesters were among those killed, mainly on Monday during the police crackdown on demonstrations against corruption and poor governance that was sparked by a ban on social media.

Parliament, major government buildings and a Hilton Hotel were among the sites set ablaze by protesters on Tuesday.

More than 12,500 prisoners who escaped from jails across the country during the chaos "are still at large", police spokesman Binod Ghimire told AFP.

Nepal's army said it had recovered more than 100 guns looted in the uprising, during which protesters were seen brandishing automatic rifles.

Soldiers patrolled the largely quiet streets of the capital Kathmandu for a third day on Friday.

"I was very afraid and stayed locked inside my home with family and didn't leave," said Naveen Kumar Das, a painter-decorator in his mid-40s.

He was among many ordinary residents of Kathmandu who took advantage of a brief lifting of the curfew to stock up on supplies.

Food stores, tea stalls and pharmacies bustled with customers after people spent days inside.

"We came out as things have improved."

James Karki, 24, who was among the protesters, said he was hopeful for change.

"We started this movement so we could make a better Nepal," he said.

O.Anderson--SFF