The United States of America today commended Nepal’s political leaders on their recent progress toward drafting a new constitutionY.
In her remarksat DC, Department Spokesperson Victoria Nuland says while the issues are complex and challenging, all parties have demonstrated a willingness to make the difficult compromises necessary to reconcile the concerns of Nepal’s many different communities and advance the interests of the nation as a whole.
The United States urges all political parties and interest groups to move forward in this spirit of compromise, expressing their views peacefully and respecting the rights of others.
UN Photo/Manoj Sah
The United States is confident the parties will continue to make progress and successfully complete work on a constitution that safeguards the rights of all citizens and reaffirms the national commitment to creating a representative and democratic Nepal, Ms. Nuland noted.
Reports say after many delays and amidst much drama, Nepal’s new constitution is due in two weeks.
During the last phase of Nepal’s 1996-2006 civil war, the rebel Maoists used ethnicity to stir up unrest that they believed would destabilize the government. Although Nepal has at least 50 ethnic groups and despite a long history of political dominance by just a few of them, ethnic problems had surfaced only rarely until then.
The seeds of dissent that the Maoists sowed a decade ago have grown fruit, and pressure groups now calling for ethnic federalism, regional autonomy and more.
Reports say Nepal’s interim constitution requires a two-thirds vote to ratify a new statute and calls for consensus on the terms as a way to promote successful promulgation.
On April this year, Nepal made tangible progress in peace process as it rehabilitates former Maoist combatants in and integrates them into the national army.
An agreement was reached on 10th of April 2012 in the constitutionally mandated Army Integration Special Committee (AISC) on taking forward the process of integration and rehabilitation of the former Maoist combatants in consonance with the past Agreement.
On December 2010, UN has called on the Government and political parties to reach rapid agreement on the reintegration of Maoist army personnel, in addition to other monitoring-related issues, as the UN wraps up its mission to help the country recover from a decade-long civil war.
The Security Council established UNMIN on January 2007 to assist with the follow-up to the landmark Nepalese peace deal, reached between the Government and the Maoists, and also to support this year’s planned elections in the impoverished country where 10 years of civil war killed around 15,000 people and displaced over 100,000 others.
UNMIN’s activities have included monitoring the management of arms and armed personnel of the Nepal Army and the Maoist army as well as helping the parties implement their agreement on the management of arms and armed personnel.
