Govt for keeping current mandate / Makes 4-month term request to UNSC

ANIL GIRI

KATHMANDU, SEP 07 -
Following an agreement with the UCPN (Maoist) that they would be sensitive to the Nepal Army’s need for recruitment for its technical manpower, trainings and continuity of international peace keeping deployment, the government has made a fresh request to the UN Security Council (UNSC) for a four-month extension of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN).

Despite its early reservations, the government is now for the continuity of the current mandate, though “the wording of the mandate will be more focused.”

“UNMIN should focus on monitoring Maoist combatants and their weapons until the Special Committee takes over the responsibility,” the copy of the mandate reads.

The government wants to remove the Nepal Army from the purview of the UN mission “in view of the changed political context.”

However, the Maoists say such a move will violate the letter and spirit of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the Agreement for the Monitoring and Management of Arms and Armies (AMMAA), the bilateral agreement between the Maoists and the then Seven-Party Alliance.

Foreign Affairs Advisor to the prime minister, Rajan Bhattarai, said in view of arguments raised by various stakeholders concerned, the government has sought “a precise and effective monitoring of Maoist combatants and their arms.”

“After the Maoist leadership agreed to relax its approach to the Nepal Army in terms of the Army’s need for recruitment of technical manpower, training and logistic support, the government agreed not to lift the monitoring part of Nepal Army (NA) which is under the purview of UNMIN,” he said.

“We sought a middle way,” Rajan said. “After we received a positive response from the Maoist side we decided to be accommodating too. We think it would be a win-win situation for all of us.” In the Special Committee meeting on Monday, representative from the Maoist party Barsha Man Pun indicated softening of his party’s stand to the Nepal Army, saying that the Maoists were ready to be sensitive towards “practical problems” faced by the NA, if the mission is given an extension of its current mandate.

http://epaper.ekantipur.com/ktpost/epaperhome.aspx?issue=892010


Posted on: 2010-09-08