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Senior UN official arriving to discuss ‘UNMIN exit’
KATHMANDU, NOV 19 - B. Lynn Pascoe, Under-Secretary-General for Department of Political Affairs at the United Nations is visi-ting Nepal next month to discuss the “exit” of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), officials said on Thursday.
UNMIN Chief Karen Landgren informed about Pascoe’s visit at a meeting with Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal on Thursday morning.
The UNMIN mandate is expiring on 23 Jan. 2010. In an interview with the Post in October, Pascoe had expressed worry that the peace process in Nepal was stuck and said the UN encourgaes all outside players—whether members of the Security Council or India, for instance, to help Nepal find solutions.
During discussion with the prime minister on Thursday morning, Landgren registered her worry over the ongoing political deadlock and stated that the UN would like to see tangible progress in the peace process before the next nine weeks, the remaining tenure of its current mandate. “She conveyed the message of Security Council President Thomas Mayr-Harting to the prime minister. She said the recent UN Security Council meeting had stressed that Nepal’s peace process should be completed early.” the Prime Minister’s Press Advisor Bishnu Rijal said Prime Minister Nepal didn’t make any co-mment regarding extension of UNMIN’s tenure during discussion.
The controversy regarding the UN secretary general’s call for a national unity governemnt also did not figure in the 30-minute long discussion. “The prime minister said the UN is an independent, neutral and common global institution, so it has to pay special attention to people’s sentiments while presenting any opinion,” added Rijal. He also raised concern about the use of wrong terminologies like the concept of two armies in the UN report.
“Today is a critical day in Nepal’s democracy and peace process. The pa-ssage of the budget is extremely urgent and important discussions are going on to find a common resolution,” Landgren told reporters. She also expressed hope that the common resolution would uphold democracy and the peace process of the country.
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