UN: Nepal may miss Saturday deadline for constitutional reform

May 23, 2011, 18:12 GMT

New York - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon voiced concern on Monday that Nepal may miss a Saturday deadline to adopt a new constitution with provisions clarifying the status of former Maoist combatants in that country.

Nepal's Constituent Assembly had been urged to complete work on the new constitution and resolve the thorny issues of integration and rehabilitation of thousands of former Maoist soldiers that fought the government before.

Ban said in a statement that there was still no agreement on the document five days before the deadline as both Maoists and the government remained divided on ways to reintegrate the combatants into society.

'It is now more than ever incumbent upon the key political actors to how leadership and carry out the necessary compromises to preserve the peace process and complete the drafting of the new constitution,' Ban said.

He said he recently discussed the political stalemate with Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal while his political affairs chief, B Lynn Pascoe, spoke by telephone with the leaders of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (UCPN-M) and the Nepali Congress (NC) urging both sides to 'act effectively at this critical juncture.'

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