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.