Nepal Newsletter 2007
Monatliche Berichte zur aktuellen politischen Situation in Nepal
4. December 2007
Human Rights and Security Challenges
On November 6, the National Human Rights Commission of Nepal criticized the government and CPN (Maoist) for not abiding the peace accord. The security situation in the Tarai is getting worse with one person killed every other day and two people abducted every day. The secretaries of the Village Development Committee have resigned en masse due to insecurity, violence and extortion.
5. November 2007
The suspension of all Constituent Assembly (CA) - related programs
by the Election Commission (EC) on the request of the government since October 5 intensified the level of political uncertainty in Nepal and questioned the legitimacy of the regime. This is the second time the seven ruling parties postponed the CA elections - first one was on June 20 and second now on November 22, 2007. In a joint statement the parties said it is not possible to go into polls at a time when 87 legislators, 84 of them Maoists, have appealed to the Prime Minister G.P. Koirala to call a special session of parliament.
October 2007
Kurzbericht Nepal:
The Politics of the Constituent Assembly Elections
The power struggle among the ruling parties, the movement of subsidiary identities and non-state armed actors with a number of demands have challenged the state's monopoly of power, weakened its ability to govern and facilitate the political transition.
New demands of various groups for a federal republic, a proportional representation election system, an adjustment of the armed forces of both sides and contesting visions on social, economic and political reforms generated high political dynamics and forced the postponement of the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections twice.
3. October 2007
National Security and Human Rights
The Election Commission (EC) has urged the government to maintain law and order so as to guarantee the CA polls on November 22. Several bomb blasts in the capital Kathmandu expose the fragility of the security situation. On September 9, the Nepal Army (NA) briefed the government that if elections do not take place as scheduled or the results do not appear as per the liking of a particular group then civil war is triggered.
3. September 2007
Security Situation
Prime Minister G.P. Koirala's direction to the chiefs of the security wings to begin work to make the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections a success has little effects. Nineteen armed non-state actors are carrying out violent activities due to the inability of the ruling parties to act. General strike, killing, kidnapping, communal riot, extortion and clash between armed groups continue unabated.
2. August 2007
Peace and Security
Chief of Army Staff Rukumangat Katwal's remark that the Nepal Army (NA) will not make any compromise with "terrorists and extremists" irritated the Maoists. On July 4, the government decided to formulate a "comprehensive work plan" to democratize the NA by making it inclusive in nature, promised to form a special committee to decide its appropriate strength, recommended ways to integrate and rehabilitate Maoist combatants and modernize security agencies.
3. May 2007
Law and Order
The indecision of the government on holding the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections has generated a rift between the left and the non-left forces in the country. The high mobilization of subsidiary identities without corresponding institutional development has made the political system almost dysfunctional. Political leaders in Kathmandu are jockeying for more power and patronage while the security and human rights conditions are deteriorating in the periphery
12. April 2007
Security, Law and Order
While the security situation in the country is worsening due to the ongoing agitation of vari-ous groups - Madhesi, ethnic, teacher's unions and students - political leaders in the capital are busy in bargaining for power in the interim government and succession of government leadership
12. March 2007
The growing distrust between the Seven-Party Alliance (SPA) and CPN (Maoist)
has an impact on the condition of security in the countryside affecting both the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections in mid-June and the implementation of the peace accord. On February 27, the UN Secretary-General's Special Representative to Nepal, Ian Martin, warned that CA elections will "have to be postponed unless some form of consensus is reached on an electoral arrangement between the eight parties."
30. January 2007
The condition of national security and human rights in Nepal
is fast deteriorating by a high dynamic of conflict in Tarai (southern part of the country) despite the dissolution of the Maoist's People's Courts and People's Governments and the restoration of police posts in most of the places. If this dynamic continues the government's hope to deploy the Armed Police Force by mid-February in all 205 electoral constituencies to create a security envi-ronment for the Constituent Assembly (CA) elections by mid-June would not be realized. The UN envoy, Ian Martin, has warned that if the situation in Tarai continues to heat up, it would jeopardize the UN efforts to support the CA elections.