Observations part of the UN Secretary-General’s Report presented at the Security Council
8 September
28. Nepal’s peace process remains stalled, with few signs of a consensual way forward. The major parties are preoccupied by profound internal fissures and the question of power-sharing. While the extension of the Constituent Assembly by one year averted a grave political vacuum, over three months have passed without notable headway in the peace process.
29. UNMIN has continued to pursue the request of the Security Council to work with the parties to make arrangements for its departure. Interlocutors from all major parties have underlined, however, that they see no alternative to UNMIN monitoring at present. To help speed the creation of conditions that would enable the Mission to conclude its tasks, UNMIN has consistently and assiduously urged the parties to agree on measures that could be taken in the short term, and has made proposals to that end, ranging from steps to improve monitoring arrangements to strengthening preparedness for integration and rehabilitation. A non-paper prepared by UNMIN to stimulate discussion was leaked to the press, and its purpose misconstrued, leading to strong criticism of UNMIN for having exceeded its mandate, including, regrettably, from the highest levels of government.
30. Despite the sustained efforts of the United Nations Mission in Nepal, little progress has been made towards the conditions for its departure, as the continuing political stalemate has precluded the necessary cooperation among the parties. Six extensions of the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Nepal have taken place on the unfulfilled expectation, and the commitment of the Government, that the remaining key tasks of the peace process would be brought to a close. Those commitments have become unrealistic in the absence of a consensual approach. Following the resignation of the Prime Minister, Madhav Kumar Nepal, at the end of June, I encouraged the parties to intensify efforts towards the formation of a consensus government, and at the time of writing this remains my hope.
31. It should be recalled that the original intention in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement was to address contentious issues through a consensus government comprising the two parties to the peace process. The Agreement was founded on parallel commitments, including the integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist army, to be resolved through the Special Committee, and an action plan established by the Council of Ministers for the democratization of the Nepal Army, determining its appropriate size, developing its national and inclusive character, and training it in the norms and values of democracy and human rights. UNMIN has repeatedly pressed for action on both points, before and after the Constituent Assembly elections, and has long warned of serious implications for the hard-won gains of the peace process if the future of the two armies were not addressed promptly.
32. It is the view of many that UNMIN contributes to maintaining continued calm and avoiding escalation through its presence and a successful arms monitoring and dispute resolution regime. On the other hand, its seemingly indefinite presence may be taken for granted, and the Mission is repeatedly made a scapegoat for matters which lie beyond its mandate. As I have stated before, the United Nations interest is to see UNMIN complete its mandated tasks and bring closure to its work in Nepal.
33. Since January 2010, the Council has acceded to two requests for four-month extensions of the Mission. I am not in favour of repeated extensions of the Mission’s mandate in an atmosphere of persistent and unfounded criticism that complicates its ability to function. These short extensions carry significant management difficulties for the Mission, while having had no discernible effect in expediting the political decisions required for the Mission to complete its work.
34. The present situation whereby Nepal is governed by a caretaker government and the main focus of the political parties is on government formation has not been conducive to sustained engagement over the future role of the Mission. Under these circumstances, I recommend that the current mandate of UNMIN be rolled over by the Council in order to permit the necessary discussions to take place with a duly formed government.
35. Should these discussions offer neither clarity over the role of the Mission nor any prospect of consensus among the parties to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the Agreement on the Monitoring of the Management of Arms and Armies regarding a realistic and time-bound fulfilment of their commitments concerning the armies and the phasing-out of UNMIN monitoring, then I will propose alternative measures to the Council, including the possible termination of the mandate of the United Nations Mission in Nepal.
36. I do not underestimate the challenge for the parties to implement the fundamental changes agreed in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. It is my firm view, however, that at this critical juncture of the peace process this challenge should be met through a consensual and negotiated process. To this end, I call on the parties to invest greater effort in serious and sustained political dialogue. The choice between continued inertia and a fresh momentum is in the hands of the national leadership. With the passage of time and the current political context adding to the risks inherent in breaches of past agreements, all parties should make scrupulous efforts to respect those agreements, with particular emphasis on commitments pertaining to the armed personnel of the Government and the Maoists.
37. I would like to convey my appreciation to the members of the Security Council and other Member States for their continued support to Nepal and to the work of the United Nations in support of Nepal’s peace process. I would also like to thank my Representative, Karin Landgren, and her staff, as well as partner organizations in Nepal, for their dedicated efforts.
As provided by the UN Mission in Nepal.
United We Blog 
Comments
7 responses to “UN Secretary General’s Observations on Nepal”
Dear Editor,
we all know that, the main objective of UNMIN is to establish peace in Nepal. From the very beginning, Nepal is respectfully following the objectives of UN. May be the UN, as an organization, is working for peace in Nepal. But, at present, Nepalese people are confused by the suspicious activities of UNMIN (UN representatives). Nepalese people had expected that the UN’s role would be impartial. But the UN could not remain neutral. The UNMIN listens only to the Maoist rebels and the corrupt leaders of the so-called big party totally disregarded the aspiration of majority of the Nepalese people. By hatching such conspiracy the UNMIN and others like him are working to push Nepal into a bloodier civil war and conflict by keeping even the UN headquarters under shadow. From the very beginning, UNMIN has been demoralizing Nepal Army and supporting Maoist and its rebel by allowing them to keep the weapons with them in the cantonment and let them start the youth force (YCL), who can be the law and order itself as they used to do during their revolution. Nowhere in the world, would a country be able to protect its sovereignty by making the national army weak and powerless? So, we Nepalese people are very sorry that in Nepal’s context UN Chief, Secretary-general of UN Hon. Ban Ki-moon also is misguided by UNMIN.The national army can’t compare with Maoist’s army. Now, in Nepal, we have two kinds of army- the national army and the Maoist’s army. Can we imagine two kinds of army in a country? Please don’t mind- in Nepal,we are feeling, the Virus of UNMIN is more dangerous than Swine flu. As Nepal is a sovereign country, Nepalese army is free to do anything for the country. Nepalese people don’t tolerate foreign intervention to our domestic affairs. So, there is not necessary UNMIN.
Thank you
Dirgha Raj Prasai
Former member of Parliament,Nepal.
Political Analyst.
If these visionless politicians had a enough wisedom they should not go to India for alms instead they should have been dealt the deal in motherland.If they had enough sense to safeguard nationality,they should not be so hasty to sideline institution of monarchy,which to the very extent strengthening the nationality.Calling the UN human rights body and inviting to UNMIN to monitor national army and maoist combatant are the suicidal acts.If these political animals have enough skill and dedication to nation,they should create an independent national body to monitor peace process instead of requesting UN.How wise the act to allow International body to monitor national defence force ( Neapl Army) who is under direct government control ?
Problem with inside outside observations is history.
When an entire nation leaves the country this deserves attention. 1. Poverty and issueless, 2. Unfair solutions, at this stage maobadi are beloved cancers, don’t you hate the face of tired Hisila Y commenting we have power on BBC, 3. I do not know anything but no men left in villages who did that?
We love maobadi.
Howdy Dinesh and UWB team,
Long, long, long time . Not too much traffic on this blog anymore I see. So on hindsight what do you think of your new republic that you were cheering for so thumpingly back in 2006???? Do you ever go back and reflect on the many times that bloggers like myself went against the mob mentality and opposed it – and you thought I and others like me were just short sighted “royalists” – well who seems shortsighted now – and what do you think of your mob rule – Please take a lesson from this – being popular is not the same as being correct- Is it?
(But then again maybe you still need a couple more years of this mess before it sinks in). The likes of the Dixits from himal media seem to have made an about swing, even the maoist leadership seems to have thought – oops.
It’s easy to run in the direction of the cattle even if it is heading towards a waterfall. Much more difficult to run the opposite way away even if your running to higher ground.
To keep Nepal army strong they must take another corrective action, keeping the current political dispute settlement. Scout can be a good option to fill the vacant place of Nepal army if necessary. i guess..
When it is downloading, the software will begin installing on the i – Phone, and the screen is going to say, “jailbreak, sit tight. 3 days after the launch, by now ten million downloads ended up built. Furthermore it is also an financial issue for apple to keep the traffic to app store for applications purchasing.