UN ends Nepal peace mission after four years

Kathmandu, Jan 14 (PTI) The UN today ended its peacemission in Nepal after four years, as the chief of the worldbody asked the deadlocked parties to redouble their efforts topush forward the stalled political reconciliation process.

The UN''s blue flag was today lowered at theKathmandu''s office of the UNMIN, which was established by theworld body as a special political mission in 2007 to managethe arms and armed personnel of the Maoists and the NepalArmy.

"Today, we symbolically lower the flag for the closureof the mission, which officially comes to an end tomorrow atmidnight. A small mission liquidation team will remain, tocomplete administrative withdrawal matters," said UNMIN ChiefKarin Landgren, who had last week courted controversy for her"frank" assessment of the peace process.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today said theparties had made "insufficient" progress in taking the peaceprocess to a logical end.

"Regrettably, insufficient progress was made. Iencourage the parties to redouble their efforts to build theconfidence that can bring progress on all fronts of Nepal�speace process," Ban said in a statement issued by the UNMIN inthe capital.

Landgren said "there are, most immediately,outstanding issues in relation to the future of the arms andarmies�.

It is still unclear who will supervise the peaceprocess even as the government and the main Opposition Maoiststoday inked a crucial eleventh-hour deal over the issue.

Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal and UCPN-Maoistchairman Prachanda inked a three-point deal to form a six-member team to monitor the arms and armies of both Maoist andthe government after the departure of UNMIN tomorrow.

UNMIN, which was established on January 23, 2007 by UNSecurity Council Resolution 1740, had extended its term forthe seventh time on September 15, 2010 for four months. Itwraps up its peace mission tomorrow.

Political parties have so far been unable to agree onthe future of some 19,000 former Maoist combatants, whetherthey should be integrated into the government security forcesor rehabilitated back into society.

The Maoists, who joined mainstream politics after adecade-long insurgency in 2006, has accused the mainstreamparties of trying to isolate the former rebels so that theyare deprived of leading another coalition.

The country has been in political limbo since the June30 resignation of Prime Minister Nepal. Despite 16 rounds ofpolls, the parliament has been unable to elect a new leader,stalling the 2006 peace process in the country. PTI