Army integration at critical juncture: UNMIN chief

KATHMANDU, Nov 11 - United Nations Special Representative for Nepal Ian Martin on Monday said that cooperation among Nepal’s key parties remains “critical” to the success of the ongoing peace process in Nepal. Speaking at a new conference in New York, the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), which has been ...

“The government has announced the establishment of the special committee and indeed the Secretary-General welcomed that during his visit [earlier this month], but there is still a negotiation going on regarding both its composition and its terms of reference before the Nepali Congress is willing to nominate representation to participate,” UN news centre quoted Martin as saying.

While briefing the Security Council on Friday, the UNMIN chief said Nepal is going through “a very profound transformation” from what he experienced in 2005, when he arrived to the UN human rights office in Nepal at a time when armed conflict raged, the then king exercised executive authority and democratic rights were under attack.

“It is by any standards extraordinary that now only a little over three years later Nepal has taken decisions that have made it a republic,” he added, noting that it had declared itself a federal democratic republic but still had to draw up a new constitution to give reality to the transition to federalism. “That’s a difficult issue because different groups mean different things [when they speak of federalism],” he said.

“One of the most remarkable aspects of the transformation has been the coming to the fore of ethnic groups that have traditionally been marginalized and now for the first time are much more strongly represented in a uniquely inclusive constituent assembly.” He, however, warned that such a profound transformation “should lead us to expect that it will have difficulties along the way.

Martin further stressed that the issue of former combatants would not be easy. “There are widely differing views among the political parties and sometimes within them regarding the extent to which Maoist army combatants should or should not be integrated into the state army and in what manner,” he said.

He cited other problems, such as the weak implementation of other peace process commitments which remain at issue among the parties and also commissions that have yet to be formed.

Martin noted that the Security Council had itself called for the political parties to cooperate “in a spirit of compromise” to complete the peace process.

The Secretary-General noted that in his meetings with Ban in Nepal, Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal expressed his view that a UN presence in Maoist army cantonments would remain necessary pending integration and rehabilitation.

Martin also reminded that the process will not be completed “even under the most optimistic assumptions” by the time UNMIN’s current mandate expires at the end of January.

Martin said the Secretary-General had urged that the government to come forward very soon with any request for an extension.

“The Secretary-General and we all share the desire of the Council to bring UNMIN’s mandate to completion as soon as possible, to draw down further and close the mission, but of course in a manner that does not jeopardise the peace process,” he said.