KATMANDU, Nepal – The United Nations will wrap up its peace mission in Nepal and it was unclear who would monitor the thousands of former communist rebel fighters and their weapons confined in camps across the country, an official said Monday.
The chief of the U.N.'s peace mission in Nepal, Karin Landgren, said operations will cease Saturday after four years.
Landgren said it was still undecided who will assume monitoring responsibilities. The government and major political parties were expected to reach a decision soon, she said.
"We are confident the parties will come to some agreement in the next five days," Landgren told reporters on Monday.
Maoist rebels fought government troops for a decade until 2006, when they gave up their armed revolt and joined a peace process. More than 13,000 people died in the fighting.
A special committee headed by the prime minister will take over the task of monitoring the peace process, and will have representatives from all major political parties, including the Maoists, Peace Minister Rakam Chemjong said last week.
Thousands of former fighters are still living in camps watched by U.N. arms monitors and their weapons locked in metal containers. Political parties have so far been unable to agree on their future — whether they should be integrated into the government security forces or rehabilitated back into society.
U.N. arms monitors work in seven different camps across Nepal for a peace mission established in January 2007. The Maoists have insisted that the U.N. continue to stay, but only the government can request an extension, and it has made it clear it will not do so.
