October 25, 2007	Thursday	Shawwal 12, 1428

KATHMANDU: Nepal’s political parties need to sink their differences to save a peace process that ended a civil war and brought Maoist rebels into the mainstream, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged on Wednesday.

He said the peace deal, signed last November, was at a crossroads after the former rebels quit the interim government last month following a dispute with their six coalition partners over abolishing the monarchy immediately.

“The peace process in Nepal is facing its most difficult challenges to date,” Ban said in a report on Nepal to the Security Council.

“The shortcomings and enduring strengths of the comprehensive peace agreement need to be assessed in order to build on its achievements,” he said in the report released to the media.

Ban said as partners in the process, the seven-party alliance — which includes the Maoists — had the “greatest and most direct interest in the success” of that process.

“I urge, therefore, the seven political parties to set aside their lesser differences and maintain their unity in the interest of the common national agenda.”

Following the peace deal, the Maoists, who began fighting against the monarchy in 1996, joined a multi-party interim cabinet after the ruling alliance agreed to meet their key demand — polls to map the country’s political future.

But they quit the government last month after the other parties rejected a demand to abolish the monarchy immediately instead of through a vote. They are also demanding elections based on a fully proportional representation system.

The deadlock forced an indefinite postponement of elections that were set for Nov 22 and had been expected to cap the peace process that ended a conflict in which more than 13,000 people were killed.

Under the peace deal, thousands of former Maoist fighters are confined to UN-monitored camps and have locked up their weapons.

But they have been complaining against the poor condition of the camps managed by the government.

This month, the UN Mission in Nepal blamed both the Maoists and the government for the cracks in the peace deal.

The Maoists had long been demanding the assembly during the conflict and believe it will give them what they had been fighting for — the abolition of the monarchy.

But being new to electoral politics, they fear losing a vote and are resorting to pressure tactics, some analysts say.—Reuters