Nepal's Maoists request extension of UN mission, but on their terms

Sep 9, 2010, 8:37 GMT

Kathmandu - Nepal's Maoist party sent a letter to the United Nations Thursday, asking for the UN's peace-monitoring mission in the Himalayan country to be extended under different terms than those requested by the prime minister.

The Maoists objected to the four-month extension sought by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal Tuesday as well as his request for a shift in the mission's focus that the Maoists said would take attention away from the Nepalese Army.

Maoist vice chairman Narayan Kaji Shrestha said the premier's request breached a peace accord the Maoists and government signed in 2006 and his party wanted a six-month extension.

The prime minister's letter requested the UN focus its supervision on the Maoists, which entered politics after laying down their arms following a decadelong civil war. Under the peace pact, more than 19,000 of their former fighters now live in UN-supervised camps around the country.

Barsha Man Pun, head of the Maoists' military wing, said the premier's letter 'leaves room for double interpretation, including the removal of the Nepalese Army from the monitoring of the UN.'

The UN mission's mandate expires September 15 after it was extended for a sixth time in May.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said last week that he would prefer to draw down the mission because it has been made a 'scapegoat' for the failure by the government and Maoist forces to settle their political disputes.

Nepal is now under a caretaker government after Prime Minister Nepal resigned in June under Maoist pressure. A deadlock in the legislature has caused seven votes on his successor to fail.