The government´s argument is that the peace process should be concluded before May 27, 2010, the constitutional deadline for completing all constitution drafting work, and UNMIN´s mandate should not go beyond May 27.
A meeting of Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, Home Minister Bhim Rawal, Finance Minister Surendra Pandey and the prime minister´s advisors reached a conclusion to this effect Tuesday evening at the prime minister´s official residence.
- PM meets envoys of UNSC member countries
- Cabinet to take decision on UNMIN´s new mandate on Thursday
- Peace process should conclude before May 27: PM
The prime minister shared the conclusion with cabinet colleagues Wednesday and with leaders of the ruling parties.
"Though there is no reason to be satisfied with the current role of UNMIN, the government is going to request the UNSC to extend UNMIN´s mandate tentatively for four months," Minister Prakash Sharan Mahat told myrepublica.com on Wednesday.
Established on 23, 2007 upon the request of the Nepal government, UNMIN is a UN political mission tasked with helping advance the peace process in Nepal. Its mandate has already been extended four times. The current mandate expires on January 23.
The mission has currently been monitoring the management of arms and armed personnel of the Nepal Army and the Maoist army in the spirit of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement. It is also responsible for assisting the parties through a Joint Monitoring Coordination Committee in implementing their agreement on the management of arms and armed personnel.
"The cabinet meeting called for Thursday morning is going to take a decision on requesting the UNSC to extend the mandate of UNMIN beyond January 23," said Mahat.
Another cabinet minister told myrepublica.com that the government is going to chalk out an action plan so as to complete the peace process within four months.
"We have now realized that the government needs an action plan with a specific deadline to finish a particular task related to the peace process," the minister said on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, the prime minister on Wednesday discussed with Kathmandu-based ambassadors of permanent member states of the UNSC the ongoing peace process, its obstacles and the next mandate extension for UNMIN.
The prime minister told the ambassadors that Maoist acts of seizing lands, declaration of autonomous states, calling of general strikes and unleashing violent activities have violated the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), said Minister Minendra Rijal, who was present during the prime minister´s meeting with the envoys.
The epoch-making CPA, of which the Maoist party is a signatory, paved the way for the ongoing peace process three years ago and ending the 10-year Maoist armed conflict.
"The prime minister told the envoys that the Maoists have not cooperated with the government in expediting the work of the Special Committee on Supervision, Integration and Rehabilitation of Maoist Combatants," said Minister Rijal. "He also said that the peace process should be completed before May 27."
According to the prime minister´s Foreign Affairs Advisor Rajan Bhattarai, the envoys expressed concern over the slow pace of the peace process and lack of tangible results. He said the envoys were also of the view that indefinite extension of UNMIN term could be problematic. "The prime minister also reiterated that the government is ready to show maximum possible flexibility to take the peace process to a logical conclusion and adhere to all agreements with the Maoists in letter and spirit," said Bhattarai.
kiran@myrepublica.com
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