AFP
Kathmandu
Fuel shortages in Nepal have forced former US president Jimmy Carter, who is battling brain cancer, to cancel his visit to the country next month, Habitat for Humanity International said.
The Nobel laureate had planned to visit with the Atlanta-based non-profit organisation as part of the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter Work Project to build homes in Chitwan, 97km (60 miles) from the capital Kathmandu.
But the organisation cancelled the visit citing a nationwide shortage of fuel and other vital supplies due to a border blockade by groups protesting Nepal’s new constitution.
“I am saddened that we have had to cancel this year’s Carter Work Project,” Jonathan Reckford, Habitat for Humanity International’s chief executive, said in a statement released late Thursday.
“The severity of the shortages has proven to be insurmountable and given the circumstances, we would not be able to guarantee volunteer care and safety.”
Carter, 91, had expressed his wish to visit Nepal in August, when he revealed that he has cancer on his brain.
Carter, a onetime peanut farmer who served as president from 1977 to 1981, is arguably better known for his decades of humanitarian work since leaving the White House.
“While I am disappointed that we are unable to build in Nepal due to such uncertain circumstances, Rosalynn and I understand and support Habitat’s decision,” Carter said, referring to his wife.
“We will keep the people of Nepal in our prayers and ask
everyone to do the same.”
More than 40 people have been killed in Nepal in clashes between police and protesters representing ethnic minorities who say a new federal structure laid out in the constitution adopted last month will leave them under-represented in the national parliament.
Protesters have blocked a major bridge checkpoint south of the capital, since September 24, prompting authorities to ration fuel and call on foreign oil companies to air-lift supplies to the landlocked country.

Panel in place to ease political standoff
The Nepal government has formed a three-member panel to talk with India to end the current political and diplomatic standoff and ensure smooth supply of essential commodities, including petroleum products.
Nepal is facing a crisis after thousands of Nepal-bound trucks remain stranded at the Nepal-India border following violent demonstrations, protests and unrest in Nepal. The protests - against the newly-adopted constitution - have claimed more than 40 lives.
A cabinet meeting yesterday formed a three-member talk team headed by Minister for Foreign Affairs Mahendra Bahadur Pandey and having chief secretary of the Nepal government, Somlal Subedi, and commerce and supplies secretary Naindra Prasad Upadhyay as members.
Though the detailed terms of reference of the Pandey-led panel were yet to be made public by the government, sources said that the team will soon visit Indian capital New Delhi where it will hold high-level meetings with senior Indian ministers and officials.
The team will communicate the ground realities and will seek a possible solution.
Nepal is reeling under shortage of essential commodities including fuel, medicine and other goods of daily use.