Technical rollover of UNMIN role likely

KATHMANDU, Sept 9: The UN Security Council is likely to opt for a technical roll over of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) in light of the proposed ambiguous mandate for the UN´s political mission after September 15.



A highly-placed source in New York told myrepublica.com that a majority of the Security Council members were not happy with the kind of request the government made to the UN Security Council on Tuesday. [break]



The request is silent over the monitoring of the army by UNMIN but it has asked the Security Council to extend the term of UNMIN with a mandate to "focus itself on the monitoring of management of the Maoist combatants and their arms until the Special Committee takes the responsibility of this task".



"All the members, except China, expressed their dissatisfaction over the request during closed-door consultations at the Security Council on Tuesday," said the source on condition of anonymity.



UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in his recent report, recommended to the Security Council to roll over the mandate of UNMIN to "permit necessary discussion to take place with a duly formed government".



If the Security Council decides to go for the technical roll over, UNMIN will continue to stay in Nepal for 45-60 days with the current mandate after September 15.



Meanwhile, the United Kingdom has expressed displeasure over Nepal´s latest request to the Security Council for UNMIN´s term renewal, a report from New York said.



The Council had received the request while its meeting on Nepal´s peace process was underway at UN Headquarters on Tuesday night (Nepal time). Had the normal practice been followed, the request should have been sent a week before Tuesday´s meeting of the Council.



“As Philip Parham, the deputy permanent representative of the UK, the Council´s lead country on Nepal, began to speak, suddenly Nepal´s letter to the Council about the future of UNMIN was distributed to the members," Inner City Press reported from New York quoting an anonymous UN source.



The Inner City Press further reported, "Parham immediately expressed displeasure at the letter´s late arrival, the latest yet in the series of short term roll overs the Council has given to UNMIN. Major player China said it was no longer prepared to set forth its position at the meeting, but would have to study the letter."

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