The government has already made it clear that the 60-week proposal is beyond UNMIN’s jurisdiction. Acting chairman of NC, Sushil Koirala has accused UNMIN of interfering in the peace process and attempting to prolong its stay in Nepal and supporting the Maoists. He has suggested that the tenure of UNMIN expiring in September should not be extended. On the other hand, the spokesperson of the Secretary General of the United Nations has defended UNMIN by saying that it has not gone beyond its mandate and that the political parties should make use of UNMIN’s expertise.
It is doubtful if the new constitution could be promulgated by May 2011 and the peace process brought to a logical conclusion unless the question of integration and rehabilitation of Maoists combatants is resolved. In this context, the concerns expressed by two major political parties, CPN-UML and NC contradicts the April 28 report of UN Secretary General (S/210/214), which states that the leaders of three major political parties want UNMIN to play a more effective role consistent with the current needs of peace process.
The government and senior party representatives also reportedly asked the UN Secretary General for a more pro-active role for UNMIN and extend its mandate. The Secretary General had also indicated the need to establish a thorough, realistic and well-prepared plan for integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants in the cantonments for which UNMIN stood ready to assist. This was what the Secretary General’s spokesperson was trying to say while supporting UNMIN in the current controversy. There has also been a difference of opinion between NC and UML on one hand and the Maoists on the other. While NC and UML think monitoring of Nepal Army by UNMIN is unnecessary, the Maoists still want UNMIN to monitor Nepal Army till the peace process concludes.
The issue of UNMIN’s term extension will be raised again in September 2010 when its current mandate expires.
There has to be discussions on whether to extend its term or not after that date. It seems pointless to continue its extension under the current mandate.
One of the Maoist leaders who was later promoted to the party’s central committee could not be arrested because he was hiding in the Shaktikhor cantonment raised serious questions regarding UNMIN’s role in monitoring the Maoist combatants in cantonments.
The same Maoist leader has been accused for his involvement in the extortion of Rs 2.6 million from Chinese traders visiting Nepal. According to the media reports, he called them to a guesthouse on the outskirts of Kathmandu and robbed them.
China is not only our neighbor, but also a permanent member of UN Security Council. It is very likely that China will take the incident very seriously. Moreover, it is a well known fact that India, another immediate neighbor of Nepal, is also not too happy about UNMIN monitoring the activities of Maoist combatants for a long time. It is important to note that India too is facing Maoist insurgency in 14 of India’s 28 states.
It´s important to remember that UNMIN is funded by the permanent members of UN Security Council. Mana Ranjan Josse, a well-known Nepali journalist found some parallels between Sri Lanka and Nepal and states, “who decides if a UN probe, or a UN mission like UNMIN here in Nepal has been conducting its affairs impartially, or even staying well within its mandated jurisdiction” (The People’s Review, 15/7/2010).
Actually, supporters of the Sri Lankan Minister who was protesting against the UN, marched to the Russian embassy to seek Russian support against UN investigations on human rights violations by the Sri Lankan government during its operations against the Tamils. Russian Federation is another permanent member of the UN Security Council. The countries which support the United Nations, including the five permanent members, have supported the activities of its mission in Nepal. They are not likely to do so indefinitely.
It will not be surprising if both India and China decide that they have a commonality of interest in a stable Nepal. This, indeed, will be a bad news for the Maoists.
(Writer is a former staff member of the UN Secretariat.)
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