GUIDANCE FOR 7/22 UNSC DEBATE ON NEPAL

UNCLAS STATE 074380 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: UNSC PGOV PREL MARR KDEM NP SUBJECT: GUIDANCE FOR 7/22 UNSC DEBATE ON NEPAL ¶1. The Department Requests that USUN draw on the following points for use during the July 22 UN Security Council discussion of Nepal.. ¶2. Begin points: Mr. President, I welcome Representative Landgren back to the Council and thank her for her briefing. I would also like to thank her and her staff for their contributions to the Secretary General's report. The Secretary General's report raises a number of serious concerns that the United States fully shares. Since the Council first established the UNMIN mandate and began discussing the situation in Nepal in 2007, our support for Nepal, the peace process, and UNMIN has been under-girded by optimism and hope for a peaceful future for Nepal after a decade-long insurgency and the commitment of Nepal's political leaders to implement the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA). Nevertheless, the Secretary General's report accurately describes a climate of political crisis and stagnation in the implementation of the CPA that threatens all of the progress made toward stability since the end of the conflict. We share the Secretary General's judgment that the situation is grave and we join in his call to Nepal's leaders to re-establish the unity of purpose that characterized their efforts at the beginning of the peace process. Especially disturbing is the lack of progress in the areas that we have identified as critical to the peace process during the past several Council discussions. We are especially troubled about the lack of progress in discharging and rehabilitating the roughly 4,000 disqualified Maoist army personnel from the cantonments, nearly 3,000 of whom are minors, and whose rehabilitation and reintegration into Nepali society is a critical test of Nepal's ability to effect reconciliation within the terms of the CPA and to offer a stable and prosperous future to all of its citizens. We commend UNMIN and other UN staff cited in the report for their attention to this issue and we again urge the Government of Nepal and the Maoist party to immediately avail itself of the assistance that UNMIN is ready to provide in discharging all non-certified persons remaining in the cantonments. Equally troubling is that the Special Committee responsible for supervising, rehabilitating, and integrating Maoist army personnel into the security forces has essentially ceased to function since May. We note that the supporting Technical Committee has continued to work in a limited fashion, but with the Special Committee providing no direction, there is no immediate prospect that the Technical Committee will be able to formulate or implement a plan to rehabilitate or integrate the verified combatants. Despite the discouraging lack of progress in implementing the CPA, we have no intention of abandoning the Nepali people during this difficult period. We take into account the request by the Nepalese government for the Council to extend UNMIN,s mandate and of the Secretary General's subsequent recommendation that the Council meet that request. In light of the indispensable role that UNMIN still has to play in completing the discharge of the disqualified, including minors, from the Maoist army cantonments, the rehabilitation and integration of Maoist combatants, the integration of all forces into a security structure accountable to civilian leaders, and continuing to foster political reconciliation and the implementation of the CPA, we look forward to working with our Council colleagues to renew UNMIN,s mandate in a manner that most effectively allows it continue its critical work. At the same time, we stand by the call in the Council's most recent resolution on Nepal for the government to create conditions conducive to the completion of UNMIN,s mandate by January 23, 2010. In our view, this call underlines the need for Nepal's political leaders to take full ownership of and responsibility for the implementation of the peace process. We point out, as we did six months ago during this debate, that the Government of Nepal should not expect that UNMIN will be extended indefinitely if the government does not take the essential steps necessary to move the peace process forward. Reasons for optimism and hope still remain in Nepal. Despite the succession of political disagreements and setbacks, all of Nepal's political parties continue to engage in dialogue and to participate in the political process. We see no serious threat of a return to civil war, and the desire for peace, at least among the Nepali people is broad and deep. The U.S. will maintain our commitment to the people of Nepal and support their effort to complete the peace process, to adopt a new constitution, and to guarantee themselves a peaceful and prosperous future under a new democratic government. -- Thank you. End Points. CLINTON