UNSC approves new politial mission in Nepal

United Nations, Jan 24: The U N Security Council voted unanimously today for a new mission in Nepal, expected to include 186 military monitors to help enforce a fragile peace pact between the government and Maoist rebels.

The council last month approved an advance group of 35 monitors in response to formal requests from both sides that the United Nations intervene immediately to monitor disarmament of the rebels and make sure the army stays in its barracks.

The Maoists and a seven-party government in November signed a peace accord declaring a formal end to a decade-old conflict in which more than 13,000 people died, up to 5,000 civilians disappeared, children were recruited in the war effort and sexual violence was common, U.N. reports say.

The British-drafted resolution says the new operation would be called UNMIN, the U.N. Mission in Nepal, headed by a special representative, currently Briton Ian Martin.

It would monitor disarmament under the peace agreement, help plan the election of a constituent assembly this year and provide a small team of electoral monitors to review the polling process.

Hundreds of riot police patrolled two southeastern Nepal towns today, imposing a day curfew after violent anti-government protests by ethnic Madhesis. Four people were killed in Monday's clashes between police and protesters, who say they have been sidelined by the peace deal.

The office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights has fielded an operation in Nepal since May 2005 and has some 60 employees on the ground. UNICEF intends to beef up its operation to aid children.

One task of the human rights monitors is to promote a criminal justice system that is accessible to all, including the Dalits, or ''untouchables'' on the Hindu caste ladder, women, survivors of sexual violence and the rural poor, according to a report from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. But it is unclear how perpetrators of the war crimes would be brought to justice.

During the conflict, most government functions ceased in many parts of the country, which is wedged between India and China. ''Close to 70 percent of village-level administrators were displaced,'' the report said. ''To date, the Nepal police have only reestablished some 300 out of roughly 1,300 pre-conflict stations and posts.''

REUTERS

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