UN, UK welcome the agreement between Nepal government and Maoists

Kathmandu, June 18 (UNI) The United Nations and the United Kingdom have welcomed the agreement reached between Nepal government and the Maoists on Friday during the high level summit.

''I am very pleased to see that the seven-party alliance government and Maoists have been able to reach an understanding,'' Kantipur quoted Mathew Kahane, UN Representative in Kathmandu as saying.

''It seems to me a roadmap to peace and reconciliation,''he said.

''I am still awaiting official comments from the UN Headquarters in New York,'' he added. ''It seems to me a wide-ranging agreement.'' The government and the Maoists have come up with an eight point agreement to draw a roadmap to hold elections for the constituent assembly to write a new constitution.

The talks held between Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Prachand, Maoists chairman, and the leaders of seven party alliance, decided to invite the UN to manage and monitor the weapons and armies of the government and the Maoists.

''The agreement is very good hoping that it will result in free and fair election, which the British Government supports,'' British ambassador to Nepal Keith Bloomfield is quoted as saying.

He said: ''However, there should be a bankable guarantee that precludes the Maoists from going back to the jungle.'' ''If they lose [constituent assembly] elections, they shouldn't be allowed to re-use the weapons. Whatever the results, they shouldn't have the option of going back to the jungle,'' he said. ''That's the bottom line. That's the concern for us,'' the ambassador added.

''We support the people of Nepal in their effort to establish peaceful, prosperous and democratic Nepal,'' Kantipur quoted the spokesperson of the US embassy in Kathmandu as saying about the recent agreement between Nepal government and the Maoists.

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