By IANS,
Kathmandu : Ahead of new Nepali Prime Minister Prachanda’s first formal visit to the UN later this month, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has approved $10 million in assistance to the country from the UN Peacebuilding Fund.
More than 20 UN agencies came together in consultation with partners to review the peacebuilding challenges ahead in Nepal and pledged the assistance for the next phase of the peace process, which now includes writing a new pro-people constitution and merging the Maoists’ guerrilla army with the state army.
“With the elections behind us, we have entered a complex period of transition in Nepal, with heightened expectations from the Nepalese people, two thirds of whom live on less than $2 a day,” Ian Martin, Ban’s special representative in Nepal, said in a press statement issued by the UN Wednesday.
“Strengthening the state’s capacity to sustain peace is a priority area for peacebuilding assistance,” said Robert Piper, the UN Resident Coordinator in Nepal.
The potential priority areas identified for this assistance include support to Nepal’s Constituent Assembly and promotion of human rights and protection, recovery of communities and areas affected by conflict, and conflict prevention and reconciliation issues like reintegration of former Maoist combatants and internally displaced persons.
The UN assistance will be channelled through the UN Peace Fund for Nepal, which is governed by an executive committee consisting of the special representative, resident coordinator and representatives from the government and the donor community.
While the UN Peacebuilding Fund is meant for immediate financial gaps in support of peacebuilding efforts, the UN said Nepal must still get long-term funding from multilateral and bilateral supporters.
Nepal’s new government, headed by the Maoist chief, has already held two meetings with the donor community to unveil its programmes and also to seek assistance after the devastation wreaked by floods in the Terai plains last month.
Prachanda will lead the Nepal delegation to the UN General Assembly meet in New York in the third week of September after his return from India.