By IRNA,
New Delhi: The UN chief has expressed concern over the ‘prolonged political deadlock’ in Nepal, as a top official of the world body tasked to monitor the stalled peace process prepares to present a key report on the UNMIN.
Speaking in the Nepalese capital, United Nations Mission in Nepal’s chief Karin Landgren, on Friday underlined the need for the political parties to firm up plans for the integration of the former Maoist guerrillas in the post-UNMIN period.
The mandate of UNMIN, which was established by the world body as a special political mission in 2007 to manage the arms and armed personnel of the Maoists and the Nepal Army, is set to expire on January 15, 2011. It has started the process to begin the pull out from the country.
‘Tomorrow I travel to New York, where I will present the Secretary-General’s report on Nepal to the Security Council for the last time on 5 January,’ she said in a statement in Kathmandu, pti reported.
The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asked the political parties to end the prolonged political deadlock that has hampered progress in the 2006 peace process.
Nepal’s peace process is at a crossroads and still faces challenges, ‘above all the promulgation of a new constitution by 28 May 2011 and integration into the security forces or rehabilitation of the roughly 19,000 Maoist army personnel,’ he told the Security Council in a report on Thursday.
Even as the UNMIN prepares to pull out, Ban made it clear that the UN would keep a watch over Nepal’s peace process even after the departure of the mission.
‘The United Nations entities in Nepal will assist in the rehabilitation of Maoist army personnel when the time comes, as well as continuing to lend support to the constitution-drafting process and the many medium- and longer-term elements of peace-building,’ the nepalnews online quoted him as saying in a statement.
Ahead of her departure for New York, Langdren underlined the need for clarity on the Joint Monitoring Coordination Committee and working plan on the integration of the Maoist combatant with the Nepalese security forces in the post-UNMIN period.
Just a forth night ahead of the withdrawal of the key UN agency, the issue has sparked a row between the ruling alliance and the main Opposition Maoists who want the term of the UNMIN to be extended.
The role of the UNMIN has become controversial, with senior ministers and political leaders from the non-Maoist parties often criticising the mission for its role in monitoring the peace process.