UNMIN to stay on: Government

KATHMANDU, June 24: The government has said that the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) would be mandated to remain in Nepal till the task of integrating and rehabilitating of the Maoist combatants and managing their arms are completed. [break]



Accordingly, the cabinet on Wednesday agreed in principle to extend the term of UNMIN in view of the ongoing peace process, said government spokesperson and Minister for Information and Communications Shankar Pokharel.



"The exact length of the new term will be worked out through bilateral consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNMIN," Pokharel told myrepublica.com on Wednesday.



However, Rajan Bhattarai, the foreign affairs advisor to the prime minister, said that the new mandate would be for six months.



Established in August 2006 by the UN Security Council upon the request of the then seven-party alliance government and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), the UNMIN is a special political mission in support of the peace process.



UNMIN was initially mandated for one year but has already been given three extensions of six months each. Its current term expires July 23.



The mission was dragged into controversy in May in the aftermath of broadcast of a videotape that showed Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal talking about inflated number of Maoist combatants while addressing combatants at the Shaktikhor cantonments.



The videotape led political parties to question UNMIN´s verification of the Maoist combatants currently in the UN-monitored 28 cantonments. Altogether 19,602 Maoist combatants are in the cantonments.



The government took the decision to extend the term as there has been little progress toward integrating and rehabilitating the Maoists fighters. The special committee formed by the Maoist-led government to supervise, integrate and rehabilitate the Maoist combatants is in a limbo after the change of government on May 4. The committee is yet to be reconstituted.



Four embassies to be established



In the meantime, the government has decided to open embassies in Brazil, Canada, South Africa and Kuwait in its bid to establish relation with the countries, according to Pokharel.



In another decision, the cabinet named Keshav Acharya as advisor to the finance minister.



Acharya is a former chief of Research Department of the Nepal Rastra Bank. He had retired last year. Acharya was also a senior advisor at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for two years.



Compensation to brave soldiers



The cabinet also announced a compensation of Rs 1 million for the families of the 13 Nepal Army soldiers who died while fighting forest fires in Ramechhap district on April 23.

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