UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Robert Piper announced the rescheduling of the visit through a twitter message Wednesday. [break]"UNSG´s visit to be rescheduled to allow more time for preparations for Lumbini meeting and to avoid distracting current key peace negotiations," Piper said.
Initially, Ban was supposed to visit Nepal in March to attend a multilateral international meeting on development of Lubmini, but the plan was postponed for end of April.
Knowledgeable source told Republica, the UN was particularly concerned that Nepali leaders would focus on Ban´s visit rather than on the key issues of the peace process as well as inability to finalize his agenda.
Sources said though Ban was supposed to come to Nepal to attend the meeting on development of Lumbini, the main agenda of his visit was the peace process. There are speculations that Ban postponed the visit in view of stalemate over the peace process.
But Piper said that the rescheduling of the visit was not linked with status of the peace process. When asked about a likely date of his visit, Piper said the office of the UN secretary general and the Nepali Mission in New York were in discussion.
"He will visit Nepal but we as of now do not know any likely date of his visit," said a government source.
Related story
SC defers hearing on petition against Tik Tok ban
