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VOL. 27, NO. 46, August 01 , 2008 (Shrawan 17 2065 B.S.)
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Term Extension
The UNMIN will remain in Nepal for six more months although in a reduced size and mandate
By A CORRESPONDENT
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has decided that the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) will remain in the country with reduced size and mandate for six more months after its term expired on July 23.
Last week, Ian Martin, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of UNMIN, addressed media at UN Headquarters in New York to explain the latest development.
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PLA: Challenge ahead |
The Special Representative said the Mission - originally meant to monitor the ceasefire signed nearly two years ago and to oversee the management of the arms and armed personnel of the two warring sides - would remain in the country to support the peace process. However, the Security Council had made clear that the mandate extension would be the last one. A review would be conducted in October to see if a drawdown was possible, and plans were already in place to reduce the Mission's staff by more than two thirds.
Speaking at the press meet, Martin said Nepal still had two armies that required dismantling, following years of fighting between Maoist insurgents and Government forces.
"The Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which had ended the war in 2006, provided for a special committee to supervise, rehabilitate and integrate Maoist fighters, but the process had stalled after only one meeting. Last month, the parties had agreed to make the body more inclusive, although a durable solution on the future of former combatants, many of whom were housed in special cantonments, remained to be worked out. For instance, UNMIN had been able to verify that some fighters were underage, or had registered as "late combatants", but the manner in which they should be treated remained uncertain," he said.
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Martin: Scaling Down |
The reintegration of combatants was not the only bone of contention among Nepal's political parties, he said. They had also failed to reach consensus on the distribution of Government posts, with formerly marginalized ethnic groups seeking greater representation in State bodies, including those in the security sector. In addition, although all political parties largely agreed that Nepal should adopt a federal constitution, there had been no agreement on what form of federalism the country would take on.
Martin explained that the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the largest party in the country's Constituent Assembly, had assumed it would take the lead in forming a new Government, but following defeat of its candidate for the Presidency - which had raised the possibility that it might not form a majority in the Assembly - the party had seemed to suggest that it "may stay out of Government".
"At the moment, there was a "vacuum of authority" at the local level, resulting in the absence of law and order, he said, pointing out that there had been no locally elected political bodies since 2002. Proposed amendments to the constitution would have political parties form local multiparty bodies reflecting the results of the Constituent Assembly elections. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) was actively preparing to assist the constitutional process."
Although fraught with difficulty, Nepal's democratization was unique for being the first in which a Maoist insurgency had chosen to participate in mainstream politics, he said. It was also an extraordinary process of social change, in which two centuries of monarchy had been replaced by a republic. For the first time, the national legislature would incorporate enormously underrepresented ethnic groups such as the Madhesis, Janjatis and Dalits.
He said it was also remarkable that one third of the 601-member Constituent Assembly were women, making it the top female-friendly legislative body in South Asia, and the fourteenth highest in the world league table, according to statistics from the Inter-Parliamentary Union. "It is a very remarkable process of change, which I think is being looked at with considerable interest by others in the region."
