The United Nations Mission to Nepal led by Staffan de Mistura held consultations with the government talks teams and the Maoists about the ongoing peace process in Nepal.

Team leader of UN mission to Nepal, Staffan de Mistura, talking to journalists after meeting with the government’s peace talks team at the Home Ministry Friday afternoon. Mistura met the Maoist leaders earlier in the day, July 28 06. nepalnews.com/rh

Team leader of UN mission to Nepal, Staffan de Mistura, talking to journalists…
Talking to journalists after the meeting, coordinator of the government’s talks team, Krishna Prasad Sitaula, said serious discussions were held on arms management and monitoring of the national army.

Sitaula added that the UN team also queried about separate letters sent to the UN headquarters by the two sides, during the meeting at 11:30 a.m. with the Maoists and quarter past one with the govt. team.

The government expressed commitment to move ahead on the basis of mutual agreement with the Maoists, he further said.

During the meeting with the Maoist leaders, the UN team discussed the issues of Maoist Chairman Prachanda’s letter to the United Nations, Nepal peace process and Maoists’ arms management, among others.

However, the meeting ended without reaching any conclusion. Both sides agreed to sit again to find consensus in these issues.

“We asked a lot of questions, because, from our point of view, the important side of the mission is to learn and acquire as much information as possible about the points of view of everyone, also of their concerns. We were able to clarify in our own minds what were their concerns and also their own way of looking at the peace process,” a press statement issued by the UN information centre in Kathmandu quoted de Mistura as saying.

“We have not been making any comment or suggestion because this is premature. But we have been listening and we will continue to listen in the other meetings we have today,” Mistura added.

In response to a question about what are the concerns of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoists), de Mistura said, “Our understanding has been that they, like everyone, need to have a clarity of understanding about the positions of each other in order to be able to follow-up on the peace process. A peace process is based on clarity and even our mission needs that.”

Maoist Chairman Prachanda
(Photo source : hindu.com)
Talking to journalists, after the meeting, Maoist Chairman Prachanda said that the meeting was very useful in briefing the UN team about their position in the peace process.

Prachanda said they discussed the issues of arms management, peace process among others and have agreed to sit again to find consensus in these issues.

Maoist supremo Prachanda, senior leader Dr. Baburam Bhattrai, members of the Maoist talks team Krishna Bahadur Mahara, Dina Nath Sharma and Dev Gurung had participated in the meeting.

The seven-member UN team is meeting the government talks team after the meting with the Maoist talks team.

Both sides are discussing about arms management and the role of UN in Nepal’s peace process.

The seven-member mission would carry out a broad agenda of meetings. In addition to its contacts with the Nepal government and the CPN (Maoist), it will also meet with leaders of political parties and members of the parliament, civil society leaders, media and the representatives of the international community to discuss on what needs to be done to accelerate the peace process.

“Through consultations with all concerned, the Mission seeks to forge a common understanding about the scope and nature of the UN role in the peace process,” said de Mistura, Chief of the mission.

The mission held its first official meeting with the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister KP Oli on Thursday and discussed about the peace process.

The Mission is also scheduled to meet officials including the Home Minister, Secretary of Defense and Chief of Army Staff, today.