Envoys concerned over "negative" turn in Nepal peace

KATHMANDU: Nepal's army and its one-time Maoist guerrilla foes are causing "negative developments" in the country's peace process by recruiting troops for their respective forces, Western diplomats say.

The Nepali army enlisted 2,800 recruits last year to fill vacancies, while a former Maoist rebel commander said last week the group had plans to recruit thousands of fighters in response to bring its ranks to the levels of 2006, when the peace deal was signed.

That agreement ended a decade-long civil war that caused more than 13,000 deaths. Under the pact the Maoists joined the political process, winning a parliamentary plurality in an election last year and then heading a governing coalition.

"Clear breaches of the spirit of the peace agreements had taken place with the recruitment campaigns carried out by the two armies," the British embassy said in a statement late on Sunday.

Ambassadors of France and Britain, and the U.S. Charge d' Affaires had met Maoist Prime Minister Prachanda to express "concern over negative developments in Nepal's peace process," the statement said.

The Maoist guerrillas, housed in U.N. monitored camps, said they would hire 11,000 fighters, blaming the army for violating the peace deal by recruiting fighters over the past year.

The Maoists have confined more than 19,000 former guerrillas in 28 U.N.-monitored camps.
A multi-party Army Integration Special Committee headed by Prachanda is meant to integrate and rehabilitate the former fighters under the peace pact before the U.N. mandate ends in July.

The envoys stressed that the U.N. had no responsibility for any fresh recruits by the Maoists and urged Prachanda, who also heads the Maoist party, to take charge of the situation, the British embassy statement said.

The U.N. had already said the respective army and guerrilla moves breached peace pact prohibitions against new recruitments.

The sticking point is the definition of "new," with the two sides claiming it doesn't apply to replacements to bring forces to previous levels.

Reuters news report. Published in International Heral Tribune, March 9, 2009