Nepal
in Crisis 2006: Facts
|
Political
uncertainty hampers development work - NGO
|
|
KATHMANDU,
25 Sep 2006 (IRIN)
Since
the start of the peace process in April, aid workers in Nepal have been
able to work without fear in remote areas of the country, but uncertainty
over its outcome is still hampering development projects, they say.
|
<<
The decade-long armed conflict has adversely affected development work
in Nepal, one of world's poorest countries, where 31 percent of the country's
population lives below the poverty line
The
Maoists - who had been waging an armed rebellion since 1996 against the
Nepalese state - have observed an indefinite ceasefire with the interim
government, formed by the seven national parties, since jointly leading
a successful mass uprising against the absolute rule of the Nepalese monarch,
King Gyanendra.
But
despite a series of peace talks, serious obstacles remain on both sides,
according to local independent analysts. |
|
"There
is a political uncertainty [which is] causing hesitation among the aid
agencies as to whether to increase their funding support for Nepal," said
Arjun Karki, President of the Nepal Federation of NGOs (NFN).
According
to the members of the government negotiating team, the Maoists have still
not agreed to disarm while the peace process is ongoing. At the same time,
the rebels claim that the government is turning a deaf ear to their demands
for dissolving the Nepalese parliament, which still does not include Maoists
representatives.
Following
a meeting last week, both sides have now resolved to hammer out their differences
in forthcoming talks.
|
<<
Young female Maoists seeking refuge in a poor farmer's house. The family
feels uncomfortable about their presence - they fear the reaction of the
security forces if they find out that the family has sheltered rebels.
"A
political resolution is key to implementing development projects successfully.
The demands for more aid work, especially for poverty alleviation in rural
areas, are increasing every day," Karki explained. He said that now even
ex-combatants from the rebel force and internally displaced persons (IDPs)
were eager to participate in community development activities - what was
needed was the right political environment. |
|
Development
workers have also accused the Maoists of putting pressure on them by demanding
that NGOs register with the Maoist party and pay donations and taxes. This
is contributing to low morale among the workers who continue to work under
severe psychological pressure, NGOs say.
"Although
there are no severe obstacles to implementing our projects, there is growing
hesitation among us. The main concern is demoralisation among the workers
based in remote villages," said Anil Pant, team leader for human security
and governance at Action Aid Nepal, one of the most prominent national
NGOs focused on poverty alleviation work.
He
explained that no large-scale funding had arrived and that there was little
sign of new projects coming as had been expected after the cessation of
armed hostilities.
The
rebels continue to prevent government-run agencies from implementing their
development programmes, NGOs say, noting that local governing bodies like
the Village Development Committee (VDC) offices still remain closed in
most of the 75 districts of the country.
"We
had expected that things would be easier for development workers following
peace but there is still a sense of fear in the aid community," said Sarbaraj
Khadka from Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN), a local NGO working in nearly
24 districts of the country and focusing on rural infrastructural building,
food security, health access and community empowerment.
Local
Maoists in the villages also told IRIN that their demands for NGOs to register
with the party to pay taxes were not unreasonable. "We control about 80
percent of the country and we have every right to impose taxes and register
these NGOs," said Maoist leader Purna Subedi in Banke district, 600 km
west of the capital.
She
explained that the Maoists have developed a new NGO policy in which only
a selected group of aid agencies would be allowed to work. The policy is
mostly directed against the agencies and local NGOs funded by the USA government,
whom the rebels accuse of being anti-Maoists. "They still call us terrorists,"
said Subedi.
Credit
IRIN 2006
Copyright
© UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs 2006
[
This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]
Integrated
Regional Information Networks (IRIN), part of the UN Office for the Coordination
of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
|