By Sudeshna Sarkar, IANS
Kathmandu : In a blow to the UN’s hope for a greater role in Nepal’s peace process, the government Wednesday ruled out giving additional responsibility to the world body.
Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala held a meeting of his cabinet to discuss the UN interest in additional involvement and decided not to widen the mandate of the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN).
The Mission’s current responsibilities are managing the arms and combatants of the Maoists’ guerrilla army and the state army as well as observing the critical constituent assembly election when it finally takes place.
At the end of the cabinet meeting, Foreign Minister Sahana Pradhan told the media that the government decided not to give additional responsibilities to UNMIN that began working in Nepal from January.
However, Pradhan said the government was ready to extend the tenure of UNMIN with the old responsibilities for another six months.
But the government will make its final decision only after holding consultations with the Maoists.
Earlier this month, UNMIN chief Ian Martin, who is also UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon’s special representative for Nepal, had indicated that his organisation was interested in offering further assistance.
Besides offering support to implement the pacts signed between the government and the Maoists, UNMIN had also proposed assistance with Nepal’s security sector, including finding a long-tem solution for the combatants of the Maoists’ people’s Liberation Army and the Nepal Army, both of whom have been instructed to remain in their respective barracks till the election is held.
UNMIN had also been interested in helping promote public security in Nepal, calling it a critical requirement for free and fair polls.
Though Martin had said that Nepal’s political parties and UN donors supported the proposal for the additional responsibilities for his mission, both the ruling parties and the Maoists had begun showing disquiet about the UN role in the peace process.
The Maoists categorically ruled out widening the UNMIN’s mandate, accusing it of being slow in verifying their combatants, attempting to disarm them and trying to deploy peacekeeping forces in Nepal.
They also accuse the UN of intervening in Nepal’s internal matters after it became public that UN officials had held secret meetings with armed groups from the Terai plains in an Indian border town.
On the other hand, the government, which is trying to stop the division of Nepal into autonomous states, has been unhappy with Martin’s meetings with leaders of ethnic and indigenous communities who have been leading agitations for federal states.