The ongoing 61st General Assembly of the United Nations on June 8 elected Nepal chair of the Fourth Committee, reports said.

The Special Political and Decolonization Committee, known as the Fourth Committee, elected Nepal’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Madhu Raman Acharya as, its chairman by acclamation, The Kathmandu Post daily quoted the Nepali permanent mission as saying.

The Fourth Committee deals with issues concerning peacekeeping operations, information, assisting in mine-related action, international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space and declarations on granting independence to colonial territories and peoples.

Meanwhile, ambassador Acharya, has corrected his earlier claim that the seven Nepali soldiers taken hostage by insurgents in the Congo had been released.

Earlier reports quoted Acharya as saying that they had been released.

A Nepali Army soldier was killed, three injured and seven abducted when almost a dozen Nepali peacekeepers clashed with Congolese insurgents in Ituri district in the country’s north-east.

Nepali soldiers are part of the 17,500 troops presently stationed in the Congo to maintain peace before the July 30 elections, the country’s first in 40 years.