Former Maoist rebel sworn in as Nepal PM

KATHMANDU, Nepal (CNN) -- A man who led a decade-long bloody insurgency was sworn in Monday as Nepal's new prime minister.

Pushpa Kamal Dahal, or Prachanda as he is popularly known, took the oath of office from President Ram Baran Yadav.

He was elected prime minister last week, four months after elections in which his Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) became the largest party in the 601-member constituent assembly.

Prachanda broke against tradition as he took his oath in a televised ceremony broadcast from the lawns of the presidential palace.

Instead of taking the oath in the name of God, as is customary in the overwhelmingly Hindu country, he did it in the name of the people.

Prachanda, 54, joined politics when he was 17 and went underground in 1981. For the next several years, he led the Maoists through an insurgency to abolish monarchy. The 10-year conflict, that began in 1996, claimed more than 13,000 lives.

He resurfaced in public after 25 years when the Maoists signed a peace deal with the government in November 2006. They joined an interim parliament and government in 2007 and took part in multi-party elections in April this year.

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