“Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and our Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal will sign the agreement on Monday,” Maoist Vice Chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha said on Sunday. [break]
Minister for Culture Dr Minendra Rijal, who is one of two ministers authorized to hold talks with the Maoists on the controversy over UNMIN´s future, also said that the agreement would be signed on Monday after the top leaders hold further talks.
Both the government and the UCPN (Maoist) were involved in talks since last Thursday after they sent contesting request to the United Nations on the mandate and term of UNMIN. The current term of the UN political mission is expiring on Wednesday.
Shrestha claimed that the government has agreed with his party to send yet another letter to the UN requesting a six-month term extension with a mandate to monitor both the Nepal Army and the Maoist combatants. The UN Security Council is meeting on Wednesday to pass a resolution on UNMIN´s future.
According to Shrestha, his party has agreed with the government to start the process of rehabilitation and integration of Maoist combatants from September 17. “The process will be completed in four months at the earliest, if not, in six months,” Shrestha told Republica.
The government had floated a set of six conditions before the Maoists to end the row over UNMIN. Most of the conditions relate to rehabilitation and integration of the Maoist combatants, which is at the center of the peace process. The last condition was about letting the Nepal Army to recruit personnel, procure arms and ammunition and lift a restriction on the movement of national army.
“We do not agree with the government condition relating to the national army. But we are ready to understand genuine problems of the national army and discuss them at the political level,” Shrestha said, without divulging the details on the agreement in this regard.
Neither Minister Rijal nor Home Minister Bhim Rawal was available to comment on the details of the agreement.
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