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Ian
Martin on UNMIN's steps for Peace
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Kathmandu
26 Jul 2007 (UN News)
Parties
in Nepal had agreed to hold elections for the Constituent Assembly, previously
postponed, on 22 November, Ian Martin told correspondents today at Headquarters,
after briefing the Security Council.
The
Secretary-General's Special Representative and Head of the United Nations
Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) said that much of the necessary technical preparation
was now under way, and that the necessary legislation had been passed by
the interim legislature. He emphasized, however, that considerable challenges
remained, in particular the creation of a political and security climate
conducive to holding elections.
He
said that, although Nepal's peace process had started with a single focus
on ending an armed conflict between Maoists and the State, it had become
more complex as a result of assertive campaigns by traditionally marginalized
groups, who insisted that they should be fairly represented in the process.
In the Terai region along the border with India, the campaign had been
particularly disruptive, with continuing violence by some armed groups.
This week, however, dialogue was continuing to end the violence. A successful
conclusion was crucial to the ability of holding elections in that populous
area.
Other
groups, such as the Janajati, the indigenous people of the hills, and the
Dalits, who were at the bottom of the caste system, insisted on adequate
representation and asked for a fully proportional electoral system, Mr.
Martin said. The political parties, however, had designed a "mixed" system,
with representation based half on constituency and half on proportional
representation, and had, to that end, legislated a complex quota formula
to guarantee representation of the groups, as well as of women, in the
proportional part of the election.
He
said the security situation throughout the country needed to be addressed
by political cooperation among the political parties at the local level.
As policing was not enough and the Nepal police were demoralized, political
parties had to cooperate among themselves in order to ensure respect for
the others' right to campaign and to avoid voters' intimidation. The Government
and the Election Commission were anxious to maximize the international
presence during the election and had invited as many international observers
as possible. The United Nations was expanding its own presence in the districts,
but full deployment could only be completed when the monsoon ended in September.
As
for the UNMIN monitoring mandate, he said there had been difficulty in
the second stage of the registration of combatants at the Maoist cantonment
sites. The completed first stage had focused primarily on weapons storage.
The second stage was meant to verify age and recruitment date and exclude
those under 18 years and those recruited after the ceasefire. UNMIN had
carried out verification at a first cantonment site, but had been asked
by the Maoist leadership not to proceed at other sites until findings had
been discussed. At the first site, a "significant number of people" could
not be verified according to the criteria. After intensive discussions,
there was now agreement in principle to proceed.
Although
it could not be accepted that the continuation of verification and discharge
should be linked to any other conditions, Mr. Martin continued, it was
important that the discussion about the future of the Maoist combatants
who remain after verification be considered in the framework of the future
of the security sector. He added that the Security Council had once again
expressed full and united support and that the people in Nepal viewed the
United Nations presence as positive.
Asked
how seriously the Maoist threat should be taken that they would resign
from the Government unless a United States-trained battalion was reassigned,
Mr. Martin said the Maoists had agreed that the Nepal Army would provide
security, and Maoists ministers had had Army guards. It was the change
of the personnel without prior discussion that had led to the current concern.
Those discussions were now taking place, and he expected that the issue,
in which the United Nations was not involved, would be resolved.
Answering
a correspondent's questions about the verification process, he said verification
was based on interviews, not on Document, as Document tended
to be unreliable. The nature of the questioning had been discussed with
the Maoists. However, based on the experiences at the first site, the Maoists
had raised further objections. Agreement had been reached that a limited
number of cases would be reviewed. He could not confirm the numbers mentioned
by the correspondent, namely, that of the 3,000 people interviewed, only
1,300 passed the test, as numbers had not been given. He repeated, however,
that a substantial number could not be verified.
The
controversy about a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report
on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration given to the Maoists was
an innocent matter, he answered to another question. The Maoists were a
bit "allergic" to disarmament, demobilization and reintegration and had
only agreed to separation and monitoring. The fact that a UNDP official
had given the Maoists a document on other countries' experiences with disarmament,
demobilization and reintegration had led to a misunderstanding.
Asked
about a controversy around Maoist "cadres" being part of the security force
for the elections, Mr. Martin answered it was important that the political
parties agree on the overall arrangements for election security, as far
as the United Nations was concerned. There was an acknowledgement that
the numbers of police were not adequate. The Government intended to recruit
temporary police. That had caused a controversy, because of past experiences.
The Maoists had indeed suggested that members of the Young Communists League
would be involved in security arrangements, and that had been rejected
immediately by other parties.
The
cantonment sites had been improved considerably, he said in answer to another
question, mainly related to the provision of more permanent structures.
That had been a Government responsibility. As movement was restricted because
of monsoons, he could not comment on the number of snakes present in the
sites.
Asked
about the nature of the dialogue the UNMIN was having with the marginalized
groups and indigenous people in Nepal, he said the mission regularly saw
representatives of indigenous groups, as did the representative of the
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. UNMIN was not directly
involved in the dialogue between the groups and the Government. Some of
the Madeshi groups had indicated that they would like UN involvement in
the dialogue, but any such involvement would have to be requested by the
Government, as well.
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Location:
Chitwan, Nepal
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Source:
UNMIN 2007, United Nations News Service
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