Martin meets PM; NC leaders unhappy with UNMIN role

Chief of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), Ian Martin, on Friday held separate consultations with Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal and senior leaders of the main opposition party, Nepali Congress, discussing the current peace process and the possibility of extension of UNMIN's term.

During his meeting with PM Dahal in the morning, Martin is learnt to have asked the PM to decide, at the earliest, whether to request the UN Security Council to extend UNMIN's term, which expires on January 23 next year.

Sources say the government is all set to request for extension of the Mission's term. According to them, PM Dahal had asked the Congress party for consent to this decision during his meeting with NC leaders in Baluwatar few days earlier.

In today's meeting between PM Dahal and Martin, matters related to the monitoring of Maoist combatants, which is the main obligation of the UNMIN, and the impending army integration also figured.

In his briefing to top UN officials in New York few weeks earlier Martin had pointed out that UNMIN would not be able to fulfill its full mandate within its current term due to delay in the army integration issue.

Meanwhile, leaders of the Nepali Congress have expressed dissatisfaction over the role played by UNMIN.

During a meeting with Martin at the NC headquarters in Sanepa, they complained that monitoring of Maoist army camps has not been effective and
that UNMIN failed to check the violent activities involving the members of the People's Liberation Army (PLA). They said that the PLA men went out of their camps and engaged in violent activities a number of times.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, NC joint general secretary Dr Ram Saran Mahat said the party has suggested Martin to make monitoring of PLA camps more effective. He also said the NC is positive about extending the UNMIN's term. nepalnews.com mk Dec 12 08