NEPAL REQUESTS SIX-MONTH EXTENSION FOR UNMIN

C O N F I D E N T I A L KATHMANDU 001287 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/16/2018 TAGS: PREL PGOV UN MARR NP SUBJECT: NEPAL REQUESTS SIX-MONTH EXTENSION FOR UNMIN Classified By: Ambassador Nancy J. Powell. Reasons 1.4 (b/d) UNMIN Extension Requested -------------- ¶1. (C) According to the United Nations Mission in NEPAL (UNMIN),on December 12, 2008, the Permanent Representative of NEPAL to the UN, Madhu Raman Acharya, formally requested an additional six-month extension of UNMIN's mandate when the current mandate expires on January 23, 2009. The operative language of the one-page letter addressed to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon asks for "an extension of the current mandate and the related works of UNMIN by another six months." UNMIN Senior Political Advisor Kathy Jones told Emboff December 15 that UNMIN was disappointed the letter did not say more about a specific role for UNMIN in coordinating technical assistance to the integration process. The letter notes that the Government of NEPAL is "making sincere efforts to operationalize as early as possible the Special Committee which, among other things, will also decide on the future of the armed personnel currently living in the cantonments." But it makes no mention of a UN or international role in that process. Jones explained that Prime Minister Pushpa Dahal had told UNMIN chief Ian Martin that he did not have the ability politically to request a more detailed mandate without a recommendation from the Special Committee. UNMIN Moving Ahead As Best It Can -------------- ¶2. (C) Jones said that UNMIN planned to send its draft of the Secretary General's next report to the UN Security Council (UNSC) on NEPAL to UN Headquarters in New York the evening of December 15. She stated that the Secretary General would not issue the report until January 9, so there was time for changes. She added, however, that she did not anticipate a big push by UNMIN for revisions. UNMIN was planning to make do with what it had. It might make it a little difficult to bring in an anticipated small group of staff to focus on integration, but she thought that could be finessed. The British, she said, seemed satisfied that the letter would suffice to move the extension forward. Jones expected that the Security Council would approve the extension at its meeting on January 16, but would register its unhappiness about the lack of progress in Nepal's peace process. Comment -------------- ¶3. (C) Nepal's formal request for another six-month extension in UNMIN's mandate is good news. We were also pleased to hear December 16 from opposition Nepali Congress (NC) leader Prakash Mahat that PM Dahal had obtained NC's blessing before dispatching the extension request. Post recommends, however, that while the USG should support the mandate extension, we should also strongly urge the Nepali Government at the UNSC meeting in January to move ahead with the peace process, including operationalizing the Special Committee. Neither the U.S. nor the other UN member countries can be expected to fund this political mission indefinitely. Moreover, the continued lack of progress in this area makes progress on the already difficult tasks of constitution drafting and government administration even more complicated. POWELL