KATHMANDU, Dec 8, 2006 (Xinhua via COMTEX)
- Ian Martin, personal Representative of UN Secretary General for Nepal, has said the UN is sending 35 arms monitors to Nepal within the next three weeks, local The Himalayan Times daily reported here on Friday.
"They will visit the cantonment sites where armed forces of the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) ( formerly known as guerilla) and plan the modalities and registration procedures," he said.
The monitors will include both serving as well as retired military personnel, according to Martin.
Likewise, 25-member electoral advisors will also arrive here soon who will be directly advising the Election Commission for the preparation of constituent assembly poll, he said.
Earlier the UN Security Council (UNSC) had endorsed Annan's proposal of sending 60 UN arms monitors and electoral advisors initially.
He, however, informed that a 10-member technical assessment mission is arriving within this weekend and will workout the UN role as requested by the Nepali government and the CPN in monitoring arms and armies.
The UNSC is likely to pass a resolution on Nepal in early January after it considers the report prepared by the 10-member planning mission. "The resolution would define how the full UN mission would work in Nepal," according to Martin.
When asked about the possibility of involving the Gurkha ex- servicemen, who have served in Indian and British Army as monitors given the delayed UN procedure, he said the UN, Nepali government and the CPN are exploring that possibility too.
Martin also met Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and CPN chairman Prachanda on Thursday and told them that UN was promptly moving forward to carry out the task assigned to it.
He had also consulted with Indian foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon in New Delhi on his way to Nepal from New York on Wednesday.