Govt, Maoists sharply divided

• Pascoe arriving today
• Leaders at variance over priorities

KATHMANDU, DEC 02 -

A day before the arrival of the UN Under-Secretary General, B. Lynn Pascoe, in Kathmandu, the government and the main opposition, UCPN (Maoist), still seem sharply divided over the priorities of the peace process. Leaders in the ruling parties, including the prime minister, want UNMIN to leave in January while the Maoists still believe UNMIN has a role to play until the peace process is complete.

The UN political department chief will arrive in Kathmandu after consultations with senior Indian officials in New Delhi on the management of Nepal’s peace process after UNMIN. In Nepal, Pascoe will express serious concerns over the political impasse with top party leaders and representatives of diplomatic missions and solicit their views on how best to put an alternative mechanism in place post-UNMIN.

“The second visit in less than two months means he is deeply worried,” said a Western diplomat. “He wants to know what exactly do we have in mind. After all, the peace process is still far from over and there has to be some mechanism out there on the ground for UNMIN to feel secure that all the good work it’s done doesn’t go to waste in a hurry.”

Signs on the ground are still far from promising.

Acting Prime Minister Bijay Kumar Gachhedar is to present an action plan proposed by the Special Committee Secretariat Coordinator Balananda Sharma on behalf of the government on Friday afternoon. The proposal opposed by the Maoists plans to recruit 154 former security personnel to replace UNMIN’s arms monitors and establish Special Committee’s supervision over the cantonments by the end of this month.

“The government will reiterate its position. That it no longer needs UNMIN after the expiry of its current mandate in January. Efforts are underway to conclude the peace process,” said Peace and Reconstruction Minister Rakam Chemjong. “The Special Committee or any other mechanism will replace UNMIN’s monitoring role if the peace process is not completed by mid-January.”

Maoist leader and Special Committee member Barsha Man Pun said his party would object to the enforcement of Sharma’s “unauthorised proposal” during their meeting with Pascoe and would instead ask him to keep UNMIN until the “peace process reaches a logical conclusion.”
However, the parties are sharply divided over what constitutes the logical conclusion to the peace process and what should come first—integration and rehab or constitution drafting.

“The Special Committee Secretariat doesn’t have the mandate to monitor Maoist army personnel. So UNMIN’s arms monitoring function shouldn’t cease after the expiry of its current mandate,” Pun said. “UNMIN will continue until the integration process reaches a logical conclusion as this is the spirit of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,” Pun added.

Towards that end, Maoist leaders say they are set to reiterate their commitment for rehab and integration of their combatants once there is a “package agreement” on the formation of the new government and taking the constitution drafting process forward.
They insist they have shown some flexibility in recent times. The Maoist party has termed Sharma’s (an NC appointee) appointment as the Special Committee Secretariat’s coordinator as “a major breakthrough in the peace process.” It has also expressed commitment to conduct a “formal ceremony” in the presence of the international community and government officials to bring the combatants under the government.

Most NC and UML leaders, however, rubbish the idea of the package deal as nothing but a time-buying tactic. “We would like to first of all see the Maoists demonstrate progress on integration and rehab without putting up any conditions,” said NC Special Committee member Ram Sharan Mahat. “There has been a lot of progress in constitution writing but not an inch has moved on integration.”

Pascoe, according to UN sources, will convey the leaders of the major parties that the UN Headquarters is unlikely to review the Jan. 15 closure of UNMIN unless all five permanent members of the Security Council change their mind. He will, however, assure leaders that the UN will closely follow the progress on the ground and will be ready to provide its good offices if asked.

“The prime minister doesn’t want to see any kind of UN presence in Nepal with regards to the peace process after Mid-January,” a prime minister’s aide told the Post. “But we are open to non-political UN role in peace if the Nepali Congress feels the country still needs one.”Mahat said his party would be “open to discussion” of a “small UN team” which will have an observer status should there be any need for “moral pressure” to take the peace process forward.

Pascoe’s meetings
Friday
FM Sujata Koirala
DPM Bijay Kumar Gachhedar
UML Vice-Chairman Ashok Rai
Top leaders of four Madhes based parties
Special Committee members
Maoists Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal

Saturday
NC President Sushil Koirala
US Ambassador Scott H DeLisi and US Deputy Assistant Secretary Alyssa Ayres
Envoys of Australia, Denmark, Norway, the European High Commission, Switzerland and Finland
Chinese Ambassador Qiu Guohong
British Ambassador John Tucknott
Joint meeting with ambassadors of P5 countries (the US, the UK, Russia, France and China)
French Envoy Jean Charles Demarquis
Indian Ambassador Rakesh Sood
Speaker Subas Nembang

Deuba, Dahal excel at playing hooky

PHANINDRA DAHAL

KATHMANDU, SEP 29

Political leaders across the party lines never tire of emphasising the need to bring out the new constitution on time. Their poor attendance in the Constituent Assembly (CA), however, belies their commitment.

Consider this. More than one-third of the CA members were always absent in the meetings held by the assembly in its two-year tenure. The attendance of the top political leaders was the worst, according to a policy paper released last week by the Kathmandu-based Martin Chautari, a think tank.

The paper, “Attendance and Participation in the Constituent Assembly,” asks the political leadership to make a firm commitment against the insidious practice of absenteeism, which has badly hurt the CA process. Examining the attendance register maintained by the CA during its 101 meetings held in the past two years, the study has revealed that the average attendance rate of the CA members in the period was 63 percent.

Senior Nepali Congress leader Sher Bahadur Deuba has the worst record. He has attended only two meetings. Chairman of the UCPN (Maoist) Dahal, who never tires of waxing eloquent on the need for a new progressive constitution, is the second worst offender. He has attended only seven meetings. The Madhesi Janadhikar Forum (Loktantrik) Chairman Bijay Kumar Gachhadar, who has participated in only 10 meetings, is the third worst offender.

Party-wise, Maoists again look to be the worst offender among the major parties. The record shows 66 percent average attendance for UML, 63.51 for NC and 62.17 for Maoists. The policy paper states that more than half of the CA members of the MJF (Loktantrik) and MJF were absent in the CA sittings at any given time while Tarai Madhes Loktantrik Party (TMLP) and Sadbhawna Party had their attendance records at 60.71 percent and 40.59 percent, respectively. Nepal Rastriya Party, which has a single representative in the CA via the proportional representative system, has the highest average attendance of all the political parties (88.12 percent).

At the individual level, Agni Kharel, of the CPN-UML, has outstanding attendance. He tops the participation list with 97 percent attendance in the CA meetings. Man Bahadur Mahato and Laxman Prasad Ghimire of the Nepali Congress were a close second-with 96 percent attendance. Next come Rajendra Kumar Khetan (ML) and Nilambar Acharya (NC) with 94 percent. Maoist leaders Baburam Bhattarai, Ram Bahadur Thapa and Krishna Bahadur Mahara, CPN-UML leaders Madhav Kumar Nepal and Jhalanath Khanal and Madhesi Janadhikar Forum leaders Upendra Yadav and Jaya Prakash Prasad Gupta all fare badly — with their attendance rate below 30 percent.

Nepali Congress Parliamentary Party leader Ram Chandra Poudel rests on relatively firmer ground, with an attendance rate of 49.5 percent.

Some prominent leaders (the top-level leaders were mentioned above) are hovering round a passable 50-percent mark: They include Ram Sharan Mahat, Bhim Rawal, Pampha Bhusal, Hisila Yami, Prakash Sharan Mahat, Amik Sherchan, Mahantha Thakur, Shankar Pokharel, Shekhar Koirala, Arzoo Deuba, Shalikram Jamakattel.

“Reasons behind the low attendance of the top leadership are clear - intra and inter-party power struggles are given priority over the writing of the constitution. The cause of low attendance at lower levels is more complicated,” says Seira Tamang, Chairperson of the Martin Chuatari, who carried out the research. “The reasons at the lower level are the issues of lack of experience, language issues, certain levels of knowledge, etc.”

A directly elected CA member, who is not named but quoted in the report, has said that he was in his constituency for 244 days in the two-year term of the CA “not counting the 55 days or so spent in the travel.” 

Chairman of the Constitutional Committee (CC) Nilambar Acharya said the negligence on attendance reflects the attitude of the political parties towards the new constitution. “Apart from the full house, the attendance of leaders is not encouraging at the CA committees,” he says.

Acharya attributes this lackadaisical attitude of the political leadership especially that of major parties, towards the CA process to the assembly’s failure to meet its two-year deadline for drafting the new constitution. “Other CA members have done their bit. Now we have lingering issues that should be decided by the leadership of the major parties. Until that happens, the differences will persist.”

Maoist serious about resolving PLA issues

Integration of Maoist Army personnel KATHMANDU, SEP 22 - In what appears to be a sign of serious engagement on integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants, the main opposition UCPN (Maoist) has decided to mobilise all five members of the party’s Integration Bureau. This is the first such occasion when the Maoist party has demonstrated its willingness to engage with the government to resolve the four-year stalemate on the future of its 19,000-plus combatants.

“We want to support the Special Committee to speed up the process of integration and rehabilitation,” PLA Chief Nanda Kishore Pun told the Post. "The involvement of all the members of the bureau will provide energy to the inter-party discussion on the issue.”

The bureau was formed last year to draw an outline on the party’s position on cross-party negotiations and address concerns of combatants living under the UN monitoring.

On Monday, the party had suggested that the chief of the People’s Liberation of Army Nanda Kishore Pun should be in the Special Committee Secretariat, the proposed mechanism that will oversee the combatants and cantonments once they are out of the purview of the Maoist party.

Pun has been officially recommended to the secretariat by Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal, confirmed Maoist Standing Committee member and former PLA deputy commander Barsha Man Pun.Of the remaining four members in the Integration Bureau, Barsha Man Pun and Janardan Sharma are the members of the Special Committee. Chandra Prakash Khanal and Kul Prasad KC are already in the Technical Committee.

A non-Maoist member of the Technical Committee agreed that the involvement of all “major players” of the Maoist party in the government mechanism would contribute positively to the process.

 “The mobilization of the whole internal bureau formed by the Maoist party to take decisions on integration and rehabilitation shows that they are serious this time to resolve the vexed issues,” said Deepak Prakash Bhatta, the Technical Committee member from CPN-UML. “This engagement will certainly expedite decision-making.” The political parleys leading up to the four-point agreement and extension of UNMIN’s term for the last time have created strong international pressure on both sides to provide impetus to the integration and rehabilitation.

UNMIN’s extension last week came with a clear message to Nepali actors that it is ultimately them - and not the international players - who are responsible to take the peace process forward. Subsequently, the Maoists have again lent  their presence at the Special Committee, defunct for the last four months. On Friday, the Committee endorsed a directive related to the new chain of command and code of conduct that brought the combatants under the government in principle.

The Maoists also agreed to constitute a 12-member secretariat to bring the combatants under the Special Committee. The secretariat will include eight members of the Technical Committee and one representative each from the Nepal Army, Nepal Police and the Armed Police Force. The Nepal Army, the APF and the Nepal Police have already recommended Brig. Gen. Mahesh Bikram Karki, Deputy Inspector General Kesh Bahadur Shahi and DIG Simha Bahadur Shrestha respectively for the mechanism.

“Within the next few weeks the combatants will come under the government purview. We will strive to the utmost to reach an agreement on the modality of integration and rehabilitation before the termination of UNMIN,” said a Maoist leader involved in cross-party negotiations. He said senior Maoist leaders will visit the seven main cantonments within a week to brief the combatants on the new arrangements.
Still, serious differences persist between the Maoist and non-Maoist parties on the leadership of the new mechanism for the supervision, control and monitoring of the cantonments.

The Maoists want PLA Chief Pun to head to the mechanism while the Nepali Congress and UML are pushing for retired Gen. Balananda Sharma, also a member of the Technical Committee.  “We should get the leadership because we are trying to decide the future of our army personnel,” said Pun. “That is non-negotiable.”

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Tuesday discussed with Maoist Chairman Dahal how to forge consensus on who should lead the proposed mechanism but there has not been any agreement so far. 
A source close to PM said he has hinted that Nanda Kishore Pun could be given the position of the deputy-coordinator of the secretariat if the Maoists accept Balananda Sharma’s leadership.

Differing letters from Nepal befuddle UN

• Government and Maoist continue negotiation, common request to UN likely 
• US says UNMIN can't operate without consensus
   
• f there is neither a workable, consensual request, nor a technical rollover UNMIN ceases after Sept. 15 
  
  

The Kathmandu Post on Saturday reported:  

Two separate letters from the Nepali side, amid the controversy on the extension of the United Nations Missionin Nepal (UNMIN), have pushed the United Nations Security Council into a state of ‘confusion’. The member states of the world body entrusted with the responsibility to decide on the future of UNMIN have expressed their concern during meetings with Nepali officials in Kathmandu and have asked for a clearly-worded official position.

On Tuesday, the government sent a letter requesting the United Nations to extend UNMIN’s mandate by four months but remained silent on whether the Nepali Army should continue to remain under the UNMIN purview. The UCPN (Maoist) on Thursday sent a separate letter, saying that the UNMIN purview over the national army should continue. Given the differences between the government and the Maoists, it is not possible for the Security Council to take a decision, which would irk one of the two parties, UN sources said.
If the two sides don’t agree on the common language before Sept. 15, when UNMIN’s tenure ends, the Security Council will have two options before it. First, to give a “technical rollover” offer of some weeks for the two sides to find a common ground while giving UNMIN an extension within a current mandate, as Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has recently mentioned. But such a rollover should have the consent of the government. If the government refuses to accept the technical rollover, the Security Council has no option but to wrap up the mission, a source in New York said.


 “If there is neither a workable, consensual request, nor a technical rollover, the mandate expires on Sept. 15 and UNMIN ceases its substantive activities,” an informed source said. Already, the Nepal government has objected to the very concept of technical rollover which has been conveyed to officials, including Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal, by the Kathmandu-based envoys of the member-countries of the Security Council.


Permanent Representative of Nepal to the UN Gyanchandra Acharya put forth the government position against the technical rollover during meetings with the deputy permanent representatives from the three permanent members of the Security Council—China, the United Kingdom and France—on Thursday. Acharya will meet the deputy permanent representatives of the United States and Russia on Friday. (Reporting by Mahesh Acharya in New York and Phanindra Dahal in Kathmandu)


Meanwhile, the government on Friday proposed a six-point proposal before the UCPN (Maoist) as its precondition for sending a new request regarding the term extension of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) in its current mandate. 


Home Minister Bhim Rawal and Constituent Assembly Minister Minendra Rijal handed over the proposal to Maoist Vice Chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha and Maoist Standing Committee member Barsha Man Pun. Negotiators of both sides have said discussions on the proposal were “positive” and a joint letter requesting the renewal of UNMIN’s current mandate was soon likely to be dispatched at the UN. 

The government’s condition includes that the Maoist combatants should be immediately brought under the command of the Special Committee and the secretariat body to take over the command should be constituted within 15 days. The next clause includes that the Special Committee would immediately enforce the code of conduct and directives related to the new chain of command to be imposed on the Maoist combatants

The government has proposed formulation of a four-month action plan (Sept 15- Jan. 14, 2011) to complete the integration and rehabilitation of Maoist combatants. 

The draft maintains that the government would request for a four-month extension of UNMIN’s current mandate, if the Maoists agree not to make any “obstruction” regarding the mobility, recruitment and training of the Nepal Army. “We have not reached a concrete conclusion over the mandate of UNMIN, but we are close to consensus,” said Minister Rijal. “Both of us have agreed to consult with senior leaders including the prime minister to finalise the agreement.”

Responding to the government’s proposal, the Maoists have stressed that they are ready to consider allowing the recruitment of technical manpower in the Army, support in bringing logistics related to training and participation in the UN peacekeeping. They have clarified that they will not agree on allowing recruitment in “non-technical positions of the NA.”

The Maoists have urged the government to give a six-month extension to UNMIN so that a six-month action plan to complete the integration and rehabilitation of the combatants can be formulated. 

Maoist leader Pun said both sides have agreed “in principle” to forward a common request to the UN Secretary General before UNMIN’s Sept. 15 deadline. “We are still discussing to preparing common clauses. If we reach an understanding, a new letter requesting an extension of UNMIN with its current mandate will be sent to New York on Saturday,” he said.

 

Government’s proposal 

1.    Immediate reactivation of the Special Committee to take charge of Maoist combatants 
2.    Formation of Special Committee Secretariat within 15 days 

3.    Formulation of a four-month action plan on integration and rehabilitation
4.    Fresh headcount of combatants
5.    Extension of UNMIN’s current mandate for four months
6.     End of obstruction on the mobility, recruitment and training of Nepal Army

Maoist position
1.    No requirement of time bound commitment to constitute Special Committee Secretariat
2.    Need of six-month action plan on integration and rehabilitation
3.    Six-month extension of UNMIN term
4.    Ready to cooperate in recruitment of technical manpower and address problems faced by the Army

On Friday, issuing a press statement tUS Ambassador Scott H DeLisi has said it will be impossible for UNMIN to continue to operate effectively without a full consensus on its role among the parties. “We also noted that although the question of UNMIN’s monitoring role needs to be discussed and agreed upon by the parties, the more compelling need is to address the core issues constraining completion of the peace process," he said.

UNSC will give a rollover to UNMIN

Following the fresh controversy between the government and Maoist on UNMIN, the three powerful members of the UN Security Council have mounted pressure for the two sides to resolve the new crisis. S

The press statement issued by the US Ambassador Scott H Delisi a day after the meeting states: 

"I, along with the UK Ambassador and the French Charge d’Affaires, met with the Prime Minister as well as the Chairman of the UCPN-M yesterday. Our goal was to seek clarification from the Government and UCPN-M on their views of the future of UNMIN’s mandate. Our concern is that without full consensus on that role it will be impossible for UNMIN to continue to operate effectively here. We also noted that although the question of UNMIN’s monitoring role needs to be discussed and agreed upon by the parties, the more compelling need is to address the core issues constraining completion of the peace process. We hope that the parties will keep their focus on those critical questions and not allow debate over monitoring or UNMIN’s role to keep them from making the hard political choices necessary to fully and finally implement the peace agreement. "

Below is the report carried by The Kathmandu Post  about the meetings:

Ambassadors representing the three permanent member countries of the UN Security Council (UNSC) have told the government and the Maoists that the UNSC would give a technical rollover to the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) if no political agreement is had before Sept. 15, the day UNMIN’s current term expires.

US Ambassador Scott H. DeLisi, British Ambassador John Anthony Tucknott and acting ambassador of the French Embassy Jean Romicianu conveyed a “common concern” during separate meetings with caretaker Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal on Thursday, a source said.

The diplomatic parleys follow two separate letters dispatched by the government and the Maoists on UNMIN. “If there is no consensus among the two sides, the Security Council will give a month’s rollover of UNMIN’s current mandate with no changes to allow discussions to take place between parties to resolve this row,” a source told the Post, quoting the ambassadors.

The source said the envoys said that the international community does not want to take “any abrupt decision” on UNMIN’s termination. Meanwhile, the prime minister’s Foreign Relations Advisor Rajan Bhattarai said the UNSC cannot take a decision on the technical rollover of UNMIN’s mandate without the consent of the government.

“The envoys said it would be difficult for the Security Council to take a decision on two different requests forwarded from Nepal,” Bhattarai said. The envoys are said to have told the prime minister that the Security Council could write a letter to the government asking it to “further clarify” its request for mandate renewal.

The letter sent by the government on Tuesday says the government would like to see UNMIN focus on the monitoring of Maoist combatants and their weapons. The Maoists have “objected” to the request saying that it remained silent on UNMIN’s monitoring of Nepal Army. After the meeting with Dahal, DeLisi told reporters that the international community is now concentrating on providing better assistance to the peace process.

Nepal Army attends JMCC meeting

Recruitment row reffered to political leadership

KATHMANDU, SEP 06 -
The Joint Monitoring Coordination Committee (JMCC) has asked the political leadership to look into the recruitment row in the Nepal Army (NA) and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The tripartite mechanism comprising representatives of UNMIN, the NA and the PLA made an understanding to this effect on Sunday afternoon. The NA had earlier boycotted the JMCC meet on Aug. 27 after its decision to enlist of 3,464 personnel was kept on the agenda of the meeting.

“The Nepal Army attended the JMCC yesterday after the recruitment row was not kept as a formal agenda of the meeting,” said a government source. However, Maoist representatives raised the issue in the “open meeting” saying that the decision violates the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the Agreement on the Monitoring of Management of Arms and Armies (AMMAA).

The NA representatives, however, said the JMCC was not the proper mechanism to discuss the decision on recruitment taken by the government. “Both sides have agreed that the row should be addressed by the political leadership,” added the official requesting anonymity. UNMIN Spokesperson Kosmos Bishwokarma said issues of mutual concerns were discussed in Sunday’s meeting.

Following the decision, Chief of the Nepal Army Chhatra Man Singh Gurung met Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and Defence Minister Bidhya Bhandari and requested them to resolve the row at the political level.

PLA Chief Nanda Kishore Pun “Pasang” said they demanded the national army scrap its recruitment but no decision was reached in Sunday’s meeting. “We also clarified that the PLA will open fresh recruitment if the row is not settled by the political leadership,” he said.

Pun added that the PLA would take a call on its new recruitment, if the controversy isn’t resolved before the next week’s JMCC meeting.

Nepal Army recruitment getting more inclusive

PHANINDRA DAHAL
KATHMANDU, SEP 01
Of the 40 doctors recruited by the Nepal Army last month, six were from indigenous groups and five from Madhesi community. Three women, a Dalit and resident from geographically backward region also got enrolled as “technical lieutenant,” thanks to reservation.

Fifth Amendment to the Interim Constitution in October 2008 legally guaranteed the representation of marginalised groups in the national army. Since then, the Army has stepped up its effort to make the recruitment of its personnel inclusive and give the institution a national character.

Critics welcome the start but maintain that the Nepal Army has still a long way to transform itself into an inclusive institution.

“The evolution for inclusiveness in the Nepal Army has just begun and it should be carried out systematically based on a political decision,” said Retired Brig. Gen. Ranadhoj Limbu. “It should reflect the aspirations of the changed political context.”
Nepal Army maintains that it has strictly followed the principles of inclusiveness stipulated by the Interim Constitution and allocated 45 percent seats for minorities and backward groups in its hiring.

Of the total reserved seats, 32 percent are set aside for indigenous groups, 28 percent for Madhesis, 20 percent is allocated to women, 15 percent to Dalits and 5 percent to those from backward regions. The government has enlisted the Far-and Mid-Western districts of Achham, Kalikot, Jajarkot, Jumla, Dolpa, Bajhang, Bajura, Mugu and Humla as the backward region.

“Recruitment is an entirely voluntary and competitive process. We can’t force citizens to sign up in proportion of the demographic breakup of the nation,” said Army Spokesman Ramindra Chhetri.

Geja Sharma Wagle of the Kathmandu-based think tank Nepal Institute of Policy Studies (NIPS) said Nepal Army is still negatively portrayed as the “Army of the King” as the institution is controlled by higher class elites-the Chhetris and Thakuris. “The increase in participation of females, Madhesis and Dalits is a most to make it the army of the people,” he said.
Statistics provided by the Nepal Army shows that out of 19 decision-making posts including two technical major generals, nine are Chhetris, four are Gurungs, two are Brahmins and two are Chhetris. The decision making rank also includes a Rana and Newar. Females, whose recruitment started in 1962 comprise only 1.2 percent of the total strength of the institution.

The NA plans to take the number of females to five percent of its institutional strength. “We are considering increasing female participation in the Nepal Army and have asked the government to provide budgets so that we can construct female-friendly infrastructure,” he said.

“If we go by the past, the Army leadership was totally controlled by Ranas and Shahs. Now we have got the Army chief from a Gurung community,” said retired Gen. Limbu. “Inclusiveness is slow and gradual process.”