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Nepal Mission Notes CIC_4.qxd:Peacekeeping_FM_qxd.qxd 1/16/09 4:57 PM Page 120 4.13 Nepal a special political mission of limited duration, UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) UNMIN was mandated to monitor the parties’ management of arms and armed personnel, provide technical support for the election of a • Authorization and 23 January 2007 (UNSC Res. 1740) Constituent Assembly, and assist in monitoring Start Date • SRSG Ian Martin (United Kingdom) nonmilitary aspects of cease-fire arrangements. • Budget $62.1 million Initially slated for June 2007, elections for (1 January 2008–31 December 2009) Nepal’s Constituent Assembly were postponed • Strength as of Military Observers: 67 twice, but eventually took place on 10 April 31 October 2008 International Civilian Staff: 106 2008. Throughout 2007 and the early months Local Civilian Staff: 158 of 2008, UNMIN’s electoral assistance office UN Volunteers: 33 provided support to Nepal’s electoral commis- For detailed mission information see p. 323 sion, establishing a presence at the commis- sion’s Kathmandu headquarters as well as at its regional resource centers. In May 2008, once the elections were complete, UNMIN’s elec- During 2008, Nepal elected a Constituent toral staff were withdrawn from the districts and Assembly, declared the country a federal demo- regions, and its electoral assistance office was cratic republic, and formed a coalition govern- closed. ment—remarkable achievements for a country To the surprise of many observers, the that saw the end of hostilities just two years ear- Maoists emerged as the strongest party in the lier. For the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), Constituent Assembly, with 240 out of 601 seats. these developments had a transformative effect. After a protracted period of political wrangling, While the mission had been due to complete its Ram Baran Yadav of the Nepal Congress Party mandated tasks in July 2008, Nepal requested was installed as the country’s first president in that UNMIN stay on until early 2009 in a di- July, and Pushpa Kamal Dahal, the Maoist minished capacity. However, by late 2008, with leader more commonly known as Prachanda, the transition from the temporary arrangements became prime minister in August. The new for monitoring the arms and armies still out- government identified three priorities: complet- standing—in particular some 19,000 Maoist com- ing the peace process, ensuring the drafting of batants still in cantonments—it seemed likely the constitution, and achieving rapid economic that UNMIN would be again be extended in progress. early 2009. UNMIN continued to monitor the manage- UNMIN was established in early 2007 to ment of military equipment and personnel assist in the implementation of specific ele- throughout the year, but with a reduction of ments of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement arms monitors from 155 to 85 (out of an au- (CPA), which ended the decade-long conflict thorized strength of 90). As part of its downsiz- between the Communist Party of Nepal (Mao- ing plan, the arms-monitoring office reorgan- ists) and the Nepali state in 2006. Conceived as ized its deployment to maintain continuity of 120 CIC_4.qxd:Peacekeeping_FM_qxd.qxd 1/16/09 4:58 PM Page 121 NEPAL • 121 operations despite its decreased personnel rehabilitation” of the Maoist army combatants, strength. It also continued to chair the Joint which was supposed to have been completed Monitoring Coordinating Committee, a mecha- within six months of the formation of the new nism within which senior members of the Nepal government. By late 2008, however, it seemed and Maoist armies convene to address violations evident that this goal would not be met and that of the agreement and resolve disputes. Notably there would thus be a need for UNMIN’s contin- effective since its initiation, by September 2008 ued presence. A request for UNMIN to extend its the committee had held eighty-five meetings. presence in Nepal was submitted to the UN in Uncertainty regarding UNMIN’s departure mid-December. stemmed from delays in the “integration and 4.13.1 India and Pakistan Political upheaval in Pakistan in late UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) 2007 led to the postponement of the • Authorization Date 21 April 1948 (UNSC Res. 47) scheduled talks. However, the two sides • Start Date 1 January 1949 agreed to resume meeting in May 2008. • Chief Military Officer Major-General Kim Moon Hwa Increased Islamic rebel violence and vio- (Republic of Korea) lent anti-India demonstrations were the • Budget $8.1 million cause of much concern throughout the (1 January 2008–31 December 2008) year, leading India’s foreign minister to • Strength as of 31 October 2008 Military Observers: 44 declare in July that the peace talks were International Civilian Staff: 23 Local Civilian Staff: 46 under duress. The surge in violence led to a dramatic violation of the cease-fire—the For detailed mission information see p. 348 first in five years—that saw the two armies engage in a fierce gun battle. Each side blamed the other for the provocation, and In 2008, the UN Military Observer Group The mission continues to monitor the 1972 in August, India accused Pakistan of com- in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) moni- line of control, which has been only slightly plicity in the bombing of its embassy in tored an increasingly tense situation along revised since the 1949 Karachi Agreement. Kabul, Afghanistan. Recriminations be- the contested Jammu-Kashmir border. Following tensions in 2003 that raised the tween the two countries were followed by During September, on the margins of the prospect of nuclear confrontation, politi- violent demonstrations in the contested meetings of the UN General Assembly, cal relations took a positive turn in Janu- area, with India deploying fighter jets in re- the parties agreed to a new round of peace ary 2004, when an agreement was reached sponse to what it saw as increased Pak- talks before the end of the year; and in Oc- to commence a bilateral “composite dia- istani support for Islamic militants. tober, cross-border trade resumed, break- logue” on an agreed range of issues, includ- India-Pakistan tensions peaked in late ing a sixty-year hiatus. But, despite these ing those related to Jammu-Kashmir. Nu- November and early December following promising developments, the terrorist at- merous confidence-building measures the terrorist attacks on Mumbai, which were tacks in India’s financial capital, Mumbai, were initiated, and a minisummit was held attributed to Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant in Novermber served to undermine India- in April 2005 to discuss the fate of Jammu- group based in the Pakistani-controlled Pakistan relations. Kashmir. At talks in December 2006, Pak- region of Kashmir. At the end of the year, UNMOGIP observes the cease-fire istan’s former president Pervez Musharraf India had taken a more confrontational established by the Karachi Agreement of put forward a four-point plan involving de- stance toward the Pakistani government, 27 July 1949, despite India’s official posi- militarization by both sides of the line of raising questions as to the prospects of tion that UNMOGIP has had no opera- control, self-government, and joint control resolving the decades-old conflict over tional role to play since the signing of the over the disputed areas in Kashmir. India Kashmir. 1972 Simla Agreement, which established responded cautiously to the terms of the the line of control separating the two armies. plan, with talks continuing through 2007..
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