Ban Ki-Moon Concerned Over Nepal's Peace Process
New York, Oct 31 2009 2:10PM
That key commitments in the peace process in Nepal have not been implemented is cause for serious concern, with persistent mistrust among the parties undercutting their capacities for flexible negotiation, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has written in a new report http://www.unmin.org.np/downloads/keydocs/SG%20Report%20Oct%2009.pdf.
The parties' "absorption in day-to-day politics and
internal party issues" are also impeding talks, but recently
the three major parties have created an informal task force
and started discussing contentious issues pertaining to the
peace process and constitution, Mr. Ban said.
A
decade-long civil war, claiming some 13,000 lives, ended in
2006 with the signing of a peace accord between the
Government and Maoists. After conducting Constituent
Assembly elections in May 2008, the nation abolished its
240-year-old monarchy and declared itself a republic.
"While consultations at all levels continue in an ad
hoc manner, it remains my view that a more formal mechanism
in support of such interactions among senior leaders would
benefit the peace process," the Secretary-General noted.
The election of a representative Assembly -- whose
central and "arguably most important challenge" is to draft
a new constitution to be promulgated next May -- is the most
significant achievement of the peace process to date, he
said.
The overall schedule to draw up the
constitution has been revised for the sixth time and senior
leaders of the main parties have generally not participated
in discussions.
Mr. Ban called on the parties to step
up efforts to address the long-term underlying causes of the
conflict, such as restructuring the State and land reform.
"To date, there has been little by way of agreed strategies
for moving forward on these vital issues."
After
months of "drift," the recent plan to restart the discharge
of disqualified former Maoist fighters, with the joint
engagement of the Government and Maoists, bodes well for the
peace process, but he warned that it is too early to be
confident about the initiative's success.
"It is
therefore critical that the Government, UCPN-M [Unified
Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist] and the Maoist army sustain
their cooperation and implement this long-overdue commitment
as soon as possible," he said.
"Nepal is on the path
of major political and social transformation," the
Secretary-General wrote in his latest report on the UN
Mission in Nepal (http://www.unmin.org.np/). "A Government of national
unity remains desirable for timely promulgation of the
country's new constitution and for the successful
integration and rehabilitation of Maoist army personnel."
But also essential is a thorough review of the peace
pact's implementation, which has not taken place since its
signing in August 2006. "The parties should develop a clear
road map of the priority actions needed
to fulfil the expectations of the people of Nepal for the dividends of democracy and social transformation," he said.
In
spite of the initial positive steps taken to promote the
integration and rehabilitation of Maoist army personnel and
discharge those disqualified by the 2007 verification
process, the report pointed out that "those steps are rather
tentative and cannot with certainty be considered sufficient
to create the conditions for the completion of the Mission's
activities by the end of the current mandate" next January.
"This underscores the considerable task that awaits
the Nepalese parties in the coming two and a half months,"
the Secretary-General said. UNMIN, which was set up in
January 2007 to assist with the peace process, "and the United Nations as a whole
stand ready to assist them in achieving their peace process
commitments."
ENDS