Nepal accuses former rebels of breaching peace accord

Dec 9, 2009, 7:36 GMT

Kathmandu - Nepal's government Wednesday accused the Maoist former rebels of breaching the peace agreement that ended the decade-long insurgency in the Himalayan nation.

It also expressed displeasure over the role of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), which is responsible for monitoring the peace accord and the former guerrillas confined to temporary UN supervised camps.

The government plans bring to the UNMIN's attention concerns about its role and the Maoist's violations of the peace accord, Communications Minister Shankhar Pokharel said, without elaborating. 'We will provide details about the violations later.'

Earlier this week, the government accused the Maoists of using former combatants during protests in the western part of the country that left at least five people dead.

The government also expressed alarm over the Maoists decision to declare autonomous states, effectively creating a parallel government, and the group's continued seizures of land and property.

Under the peace accord, the elected constituent assembly must draft a new constitution by May 2010, integrate some former rebel fighters into security forces and rehabilitate others.

However, deep divisions among the political parties has put work on the new constitution several months behind schedule, while the integration and rehabilitation processes languish.

In May, a Maoist-led government collapsed after a power struggle with the president.

The insurgency formally ended with a peace pact in November 2006.

Nearly 14,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands of others displaced during the armed conflict.