UN monitors to quit Nepal before peace process ends

Jan 10, 2011, 11:09 GMT

Kathmandu - The United Nations team monitoring Nepal's peace process will withdraw from the country on January 15, the UN office in Kathmandu confirmed Monday.

The United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) was set up by the UN Security Council in 2007.

'The timing of our departure was not optimal,' UNMIN chief Karin Landgren said. 'We would have liked to see a complete peace process before leaving.'

It is unclear what mechanism will replace the UN monitors.

The government set up a 12-member committee to monitor the peace process, but it has not started work as political differences are rife among the members.

'Parts of the UN are in good position to take up rehabilitation arrangements after UNMIN,' Landgren said. 'The UN country office is expected to take that on, when the time comes.'

The decade-long civil war ended in 2006 with the signing of a peace pact. More than 16,700 people died in the insurgency.

Following the ceasefire, some 19,000 former rebels were brought under UN supervision and confined to seven major camps across the Himalayan nation.

There is still uncertainty over the fate of Maoist ex-combatants, who want to be integrated into the national army. The military hierarchy wants a strict screening process to determine which former rebels could be accepted.

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