Kathmandu, Aug 19 (IANS) UN Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon sent an emissary to Nepal to take stock of its operations here, especially its supervision of the process of disarming Maoists, after the former rebels criticised the global body.
UN undersecretary-general for political affairs B. Lynn Pascoe made a quick touchdown at Kathmandu to meet Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Maoist chief Prachanda, members of civil society and Ian Martin, head of the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN).
Pascoe, who left Sunday after his arrival a day before, also met Chief Election Commissioner Bhoj Raj Pokhrel to learn about the preparations being made for the crucial constituent assembly election on Nov 22 and discuss possible assistance by the UN.
Prachanda told the media after his meeting with the envoy Sunday that their talks had focused on the ongoing verification of Maoist soldiers by the UNMIN, the election and the youth wing of his party, the Young Communist League (YCL).
The Maoists had earlier stopped the UNMIN verification of their soldiers, accusing the world body of trying to follow the pattern they had used in other conflict-hit nations like Sudan.
“The UN had been following the model of DDR (disarm-demobilise-reintegrate),” Prachanda said. “But we had agreed on a different model: SSR (security sector restructuring).”
The Maoists signed a peace pact with the government and ended their 10-year guerrilla war on the understanding that till the election, they would confine their soldiers in barracks and lock up their arms under UN supervision. However, the keys would remain with the guerrillas.
Also, their People’s Liberation Army, instead of being disbanded, would be merged with the Nepal Army.
Though the UN rejects the allegation that it was trying to disarm and disband the Maoist army, the charge is said to have been in retaliation to the number of combatants found to be ineligible by the inspecting team.
The Maoists are yet to discharge the soldiers found to be under-age or illegally recruited, though they had agreed to do so.
Pascoe’s talks with Prachanda also underlines the concern among the international community about the growing militancy by the YCL that even last week attacked the car of a sitting legislator.
Nepal’s political parties as well as the international community have been saying that the election would not be free and fair till the YCL was reined in.