The warning came a few hours after Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal agreed to organize a function on Saturday to mark the formal handover to the Special Committee of the chain of command of Maoist combatants.[break]
“While agreeing on the date for the formal handover, there was an understanding between the government and out party that Home Minister Bhim Rawal would publicly commit the government to adhering to the three-point agreement, and announce that the Nepal Army will be monitored by the Special Committee and the government would stop [reported] arms import from India,” said Maoist Vice-chairman Narayankaji Shrestha, “But the government has not done so. If it does not implement the agreement, our party will postpone the scheduled function.”
Shrestha informed Republica that Chairman Dahal agreed with Nepal on the date of the cantonment handover during a meeting at Singha Durbar Tuesday afternoon following an agreement that the government would address his party´s demands. The demands included: bringing the entire Nepal Army under monitoring by the Special Committee, changing the composition of the recently-agreed arms monitoring mechanism to give equal stake to the Maoist army, and stopping the reported arms import from India.
But the Prime Minister´s Press Advisor, Bishnu Rijal, said that Dahal did not raise the demands during the meeting on Tuesday although he had brought them up on Monday.
“Dahal did not raise the demands with the prime minister today [Tuesday] as the latter had clearly told him yesterday that such demands could not be accepted,” said Rijal about the meeting of Nepal and Dahal on Tuesday.
Govt asks UNDP for technical assistance
With the integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants is set to take on momentum, the government has made a formal request to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) for technical assistance in designing rehabilitation packages for those Maoist combatants who will opt for rehabilitation in their respective communities.
Secretary at the Peace and Reconstruction Ministry Dhruba Sharma said the ministry formally made a request to this effect last week following a decision by Peace and Reconstruction Minister Rakam Chemjong.
UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator Robert Piper confirmed the development to Republica and said UNDP is sending experts who have worked to develop packages for discharged, disqualified Maoist combatants to the ministry to design the rehabilitation packages.
UN sets up reporting mechanism
As the UN Security Council is continuing to monitor the situation in Nepal following the exit of UNMIN, the political department of the world body has set up a reporting mechanism that will update it on Nepal´s political and peace process.
“In principle it started from yesterday [Monday],” said Piper when asked about the creation of the reporting mechanism.
“They [four political affairs officers] will be here under my office in a few weeks,” he said.
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