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Registration
and storage of Nepal Army weapons begins
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Kathmandu
11 April 2007 (UNMIN)
The
United Nations Mission in Nepal today began the registration and storage
of Nepal Army weapons at the Chhauni Barracks in Kathmandu. The registration
and storage process is expected to take place over three days.
The
Nepal Army today presented approximately 850 weapons for registration and
storage by UN teams on the first day of registration. Fourteen United Nations
registration teams, supported by the UNDP, registered each weapon individually,
attaching a barcode to each weapon before it was stored in one of fourteen
large containers. Seventy registration staff are engaged in this process.
UNMIN arms monitors are present throughout the registration process, and
will maintain a 24-hour presence at Chhauni Barracks from today to monitor
the weapons. Surveillance cameras have been installed at the site to ensure
24-hour electronic monitoring.
These
arrangements for registration and storage of weapons are identical for
those in place for the Maoist army.
Under
the Agreement on Monitoring of the Management of Arms and Armies (AMMAA),
the Nepal Army agreed to register and safely store under UNMIN monitoring
an equivalent number of weapons to those stored by the Maoist army. The
number of weapons stored by the Maoist army is 2855; in addition the Maoist
army maintains 524 weapons for cantonment perimeter security (30 at each
divisional site, and 14-15 at each satellite site) and continues to hold
96 weapons pending an agreement on arrangements for leadership security.
Registration
and storage of the Nepal Army weapons represents the final step of the
first phase of registration of arms and combatants. The second phase will
be the verification of Maoist combatants, and this will commence shortly.
"I
am very pleased with the weapons registration process today, which has
gone smoothly. The Nepal Army has provided full cooperation in this registration
and weapons storage process, and I am confident that we will complete the
process this week,"said General Jan Erik Wilhelmsen, the UNMIN official
in charge of the monitoring of arms and armies.
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Location:
Chitwan, Nepal
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Source:
UNMIN 2007
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