Special Committee to integrate Nepal Maoist combatants

September 19th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Maoist chairman Prachanda has threatened to launch a decisive revolt in Nepal if the Maoist-floated resolution motion on civilian supremacy were not debated in the Parliament. Addressing a mass meeting here on Friday, Prachanda said such a revolt would sweep away all the relics of feudalism and establish people's rule.

September 17th, 2009 KATHMANDU - A fresh dispute over the Nepal national flag has erupted between the UCPN (Maoist) and the other parties. The parties are divided on whether to retain the current flag or design a new one that should contain stars equal in numbers to the number of federal units after the restructuring of the state.

September 17th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Unified CPN (Maoist) cadres waved black flags and pelted stones at Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal as he attended the 34th convocation ceremony of the Tribhuvan University on Wednesday. The Maoist cadres threw stones and black flags at the stage when the convocation ceremony was in progress.

July 31st, 2009 KATHMANDU - The UN Friday expressed worries over delays in Nepal's peace process by squabbles among political parties. Karin Landgren, chief of the UN Mission in Nepal, said it was a matter of urgent concern that progress in the peace process had fallen behind.

July 22nd, 2009 KATHMANDU - Former Nepal prime minister and current opposition leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda has asked the new government of Nepal not to resume buying arms from India, warning that it would hit the ongoing peace negotiations adversely. Prachanda, whose Maoist party fought a 10-year battle to overthrow Nepal's constitutional monarchy, has asked Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal not to seek fresh military assistance from India, Prachanda's aide Samir Dahal told IANS.

July 18th, 2009 KATHMANDU - In his new report on Nepal, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the discharge of child soldiers from Maoist camps "long overdue" and urged the government to do it at a "brisk pace". The quarterly report, released in Nepal Saturday, will be discussed by the UN Security Council next week.

June 28th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Almost two months after Nepal's Maoist government became embroiled in a row with the army and was ousted from power, the republic's new Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal now finds himself dragged into yet another controversy involving both the army and the Maoist guerrilla forces. The Prime Minister's Office was forced to issue a clarification Sunday after the controversy snowballed and threatened to wedge a deeper rift between the ruling coalition and the Maoists, who are warning to go on the warpath.

May 20th, 2009 KATHMANDU - The United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) defended itself late Tuesday against criticism from Nepalese political parties over its role in the verification process of Maoist combatants. The verification process is supposed to aid the integration of genuine Maoist rebels into the Nepalese army as part of a peace deal.

May 11th, 2009 KATHMANDU - The turmoil in Nepal triggered by the fall of the Maoist government last week deepened Monday with the main opposition party, the Nepali Congress, stepping up its campaign against the UN, accusing the world body of having blundered during its screening of the Maoist army two years ago. Cadres of Nepal Tarun Dal, the youth wing of the opposition, Monday demonstrated in front of the office of the UN's political unit in Kathmandu, the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN), accusing the later of failing in its mandate to verify the Maoist army, the People's Liberation Army (PLA).

May 11th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Ambassadors from 16 countries, multinational donors and chief of the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) Karen Landgren have jointly called on acting Nepal Prime Minister Prachanda here today amid uncertainties over formation of new government and postponement of the Nepal Development Forum (NDF) meet. Envoys from United States, Germany, France, UK, Norway, China and India and representatives from World Bank, Asian Development Bank were among those that met Prachanda.

May 5th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Private television stations across Nepal Tuesday broadcast video footage of Maoist leader Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' telling his guerrilla commanders his party had successfully recruited over 23,000 soldiers after the 2006 truce and of his aim to control the army to grab absolute power. The video footage appeared a day after the Maoist government collapsed in a power struggle between the president and the prime minister over the government's decision to sack army chief Rukmangad Katuwal.

April 19th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepali Prime Minister Prachanda has told British Under Secretary of State for Defense and Minister for Veterans Kevan Jones that the United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) may be asked to stop work after the integration of the army and the rehabilitation of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) combatants by July. Jones, in his departure statement at the end of his five-day visit to Nepal, said that the people of Nepal could be assured of Britain's steadfast support, both for peace building and for development.

March 25th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Nepal Prime Minister Prachanda today said that the uneasy relationship among the coalition partners has created doubt on the Constitution drafting process. Speaking at the Constitutional Committee of the Constituent Assembly here, Prachanda said that there are doubts among the general public on Constitution drafting due to differences among the parties.

February 5th, 2009 KATHMANDU - Three years after signing a peace pact and ending their decade-old armed insurrection, Nepal's Maoists have now finally begun the tough task of addressing the future of their guerrilla army with a decision to discharge 4,000 fighters and rehabilitate them. The 4,000 combatants of the once underground People's Liberation Army (PLA) comprise mostly child soldiers recruited in violation of international covenants and others illegally roped in after the peace pact in 2006.

December 30th, 2008 KATHMANDU - Two years after signing a peace pact and now heading the government, Nepal's former Maoist guerrillas Wednesday rejected an ally's plea to hand over their weapons to win the trust of the international community as well as other parties. Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, who led a 10-year savage insurrection to overthrow Nepal's royal family but relented in 2006 and agreed to fight an election instead, ruled out his guerrilla army handing over its arsenal.