PRESS CONFERENCE BY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR NEPAL

 

Parties in Nepal had agreed to hold elections for the Constituent Assembly, previously postponed, on 22 November, Ian Martin told correspondents today at Headquarters, after briefing the Security Council.

The Secretary-General’s Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) said that much of the necessary technical preparation was now under way, and that the necessary legislation had been passed by the interim legislature.  He emphasized, however, that considerable challenges remained, in particular the creation of a political and security climate conducive to holding elections.

He said that, although Nepal’s peace process had started with a single focus on ending an armed conflict between Maoists and the State, it had become more complex as a result of assertive campaigns by traditionally marginalized groups, who insisted that they should be fairly represented in the process.  In the Terai region along the border with India, the campaign had been particularly disruptive, with continuing violence by some armed groups.  This week, however, dialogue was continuing to end the violence.  A successful conclusion was crucial to the ability of holding elections in that populous area.

Other groups, such as the Janajati, the indigenous people of the hills, and the Dalits, who were at the bottom of the caste system, insisted on adequate representation and asked for a fully proportional electoral system, Mr. Martin said.  The political parties, however, had designed a “mixed” system, with representation based half on constituency and half on proportional representation, and had, to that end, legislated a complex quota formula to guarantee representation of the groups, as well as of women, in the proportional part of the election.

He said the security situation throughout the country needed to be addressed by political cooperation among the political parties at the local level.  As policing was not enough and the Nepal police were demoralized, political parties had to cooperate among themselves in order to ensure respect for the others’ right to campaign and to avoid voters’ intimidation.  The Government and the Election Commission were anxious to maximize the international presence during the election and had invited as many international observers as possible.  The United Nations was expanding its own presence in the districts, but full deployment could only be completed when the monsoon ended in September.

As for the UNMIN monitoring mandate, he said there had been difficulty in the second stage of the registration of combatants at the Maoist cantonment sites.  The completed first stage had focused primarily on weapons storage.  The second stage was meant to verify age and recruitment date and exclude those under 18 years and those recruited after the ceasefire.  UNMIN had carried out verification at a first cantonment site, but had been asked by the Maoist leadership not to proceed at other sites until findings had been discussed.  At the first site, a “significant number of people” could not be verified according to the criteria.  After intensive discussions, there was now agreement in principle to proceed.

Although it could not be accepted that the continuation of verification and discharge should be linked to any other conditions, Mr. Martin continued, it was important that the discussion about the future of the Maoist combatants who remain after verification be considered in the framework of the future of the security sector.  He added that the Security Council had once again expressed full and united support and that the people in Nepal viewed the United Nations presence as positive.

Asked how seriously the Maoist threat should be taken that they would resign from the Government unless a United States-trained battalion was reassigned, Mr. Martin said the Maoists had agreed that the Nepal Army would provide security, and Maoists ministers had had Army guards.  It was the change of the personnel without prior discussion that had led to the current concern.  Those discussions were now taking place, and he expected that the issue, in which the United Nations was not involved, would be resolved.

Answering a correspondent’s questions about the verification process, he said verification was based on interviews, not on documentation, as documentation tended to be unreliable.  The nature of the questioning had been discussed with the Maoists.  However, based on the experiences at the first site, the Maoists had raised further objections.  Agreement had been reached that a limited number of cases would be reviewed.  He could not confirm the numbers mentioned by the correspondent, namely, that of the 3,000 people interviewed, only 1,300 passed the test, as numbers had not been given.  He repeated, however, that a substantial number could not be verified.

The controversy about a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report on disarmament, demobilization and reintegration given to the Maoists was an innocent matter, he answered to another question.  The Maoists were a bit “allergic” to disarmament, demobilization and reintegration and had only agreed to separation and monitoring.  The fact that a UNDP official had given the Maoists a document on other countries’ experiences with disarmament, demobilization and reintegration had led to a misunderstanding.

Asked about a controversy around Maoist “cadres” being part of the security force for the elections, Mr. Martin answered it was important that the political parties agree on the overall arrangements for election security, as far as the United Nations was concerned.  There was an acknowledgement that the numbers of police were not adequate.  The Government intended to recruit temporary police.  That had caused a controversy, because of past experiences.  The Maoists had indeed suggested that members of the Young Communists League would be involved in security arrangements, and that had been rejected immediately by other parties.

The cantonment sites had been improved considerably, he said in answer to another question, mainly related to the provision of more permanent structures.  That had been a Government responsibility.  As movement was restricted because of monsoons, he could not comment on the number of snakes present in the sites.

Asked about the nature of the dialogue the UNMIN was having with the marginalized groups and indigenous people in Nepal, he said the mission regularly saw representatives of indigenous groups, as did the representative of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.  UNMIN was not directly involved in the dialogue between the groups and the Government.  Some of the Madeshi groups had indicated that they would like UN involvement in the dialogue, but any such involvement would have to be requested by the Government, as well.

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For information media • not an official record