UN Peace Operation Needed in Nepal

In a significant breakthrough, Nepal’s government and the Maoist rebels today submitted a five-point letter to the United Nations requesting assistance with the ceasefire and the elections. The two sides specifically asked for a UN peace operation to monitor human rights, the ceasefire code of conduct, arms management of the rebels, the confinement of the army to its barracks, and the constituent assembly elections. The consensus letter comes a day after the rebel negotiators indicated that the peace talks were on the verge of collapse. The parties are to be commended for taking the courageous step to work with U.N. peace negotiators, the OHCHR, international conflict experts, and retired military strategists to end the decade-long insurgency through democratic means. Now, the world needs to assist Nepal with its transition to a post-conflict society. The UN can play a critical role in building a stable and enduring peace in Nepal by providing teams to implement security protocols during the interim government, to ensure inclusive participation of women, to monitor and verify election results, and to oversee the reconciliation process.

The Five-Point Letter

Today’s consensus letter from the government and the rebels arrived in the hands of the UN representative in Nepal in duplicate, one copy from each side. Krishana Prasad Sitaula delivered the letter for the government. Krishna Bahadur Mahara delivered the letter for the Maoist rebels. The letters were signed by Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist chairman Prachanda. Abraham Abraham, the UN Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights representative in Nepal, warmly received each letter with both hands and a smile.

The parties summarized the contents of the letter at a press conference. The five requests include: (1) increased human rights assistance from the OHCHR, (2) oversight of the ceasefire code of conduct, (3) monitoring and verification of arms management of the rebels, (4) monitoring and verification of the confinement of the army to its barracks, and (5) civilian monitoring of the constituent assembly elections. The full text of the letter has not been released.

The five-point letter sends a political message to the world, and, more specifically, to Staffan de Mistura, the head of the high-level UN evaluation team recently in Nepal. De Mistura gave the parties the deadline of today to demonstrate their commitment to the peace process and to submit their requests before he gives his report later this week to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan for consideration. De Mistura is an expert in negotiations and post-conflict situations, with experience in Kosovo, Croatia, Sudan, and Southern Lebanon.
He departed Nepal on 3 August 20006 with cautious optimism after giving the parties instructions on ways to improve their confidence in each other, particularly in regards to arms management (press conference, unofficial transcription).

The UN’s Role in the Peace Process

The requests are within the scope and expertise of the UN, but the willingness and the capacity of the UN to respond with action will depend on the Secretary General and donor countries. Funding likely will be authorized to extend human rights activities and to provide electoral assistance, two areas where the UN has significant experience. The other three requests are more problematic. The parties have requested qualified civilian monitors to oversee armed troops for ceasefire compliance and arms management.

The issue of arms management posed the greatest challenge and nearly derailed the peace talks. The proposed compromise to the contentious issue would allow the rebels to retain their weapons but only upon confinement to camps supervised by UN civilian monitoring teams. To prevent a one-sided armed victory by the government, army troops similarly would be confined to barracks and monitored.

Presumably, the parties understand that the international community is unlikely to deploy civilians in the absence of security protocols as enforcers of a fragile truce between two armed parties. Imaginably, the rebels needed to make a political statement that they did not concede to the government’s request to lay down their weapons. By requesting civilian monitors, both parties denounced continued armed-conflict and conveyed a message to the Nepali people of a peaceful transition. Moreover, the parties signaled their willingness to consider the temporary confiscation of arms by the United Nations or other security protocols in the following sentence released from the letter: “The modalities for all agreements, including of arms and munitions, will be worked out among the parties and the UN.” (Nepal News). Accordingly, today’s compromise provides domestic political cover while demonstrating both parties’ commitment to the ceasefire agreement signed on 27 April 2006.

The parties’ commitment to the ceasefire should be perceived by the international community as an encouraging sign of cooperation and trust-building between the two sides.

Upcoming

I’ll blog more on a peacekeeping mission, human rights in Nepal, the participation of women, and the need for a reconciliation framework to support the rule of law.

Namaste.

Resources

Nepal – Government

Nepal – Media and Discussion

Nepal – Organizations

Regional – Organizations