VZCZCXYZ0002
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHC #4380 1980025
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 170010Z JUL 09
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK IMMEDIATE 0000
INFO UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEHKT/AMEMBASSY KATHMANDU IMMEDIATE 0000
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI IMMEDIATE 0000

UNCLAS STATE 074380 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: UNSC PGOV PREL MARR KDEM NP
SUBJECT: GUIDANCE FOR 7/22 UNSC DEBATE ON NEPAL 
 
¶1. The Department Requests that USUN draw on the following 
points for use during the July 22 UN Security Council 
discussion of Nepal.. 
 
¶2. Begin points: 
 
Mr. President, 
 
I welcome Representative Landgren back to the Council and 
thank her for her briefing.  I would also like to thank her 
and her staff for their contributions to the Secretary 
General's report. 
 
The Secretary General's report raises a number of serious 
concerns that the United States fully shares.  Since the 
Council first established the UNMIN mandate and began 
discussing the situation in Nepal in 2007, our support for 
Nepal, the peace process, and UNMIN has been under-girded by 
optimism and hope for a peaceful future for Nepal after a 
decade-long insurgency and the commitment of Nepal's 
political leaders to implement the Comprehensive Peace 
Agreement (CPA). 
 
Nevertheless, the Secretary General's report accurately 
describes a climate of political crisis and stagnation in the 
implementation of the CPA that threatens all of the progress 
made toward stability since the end of the conflict.  We 
share the Secretary General's judgment that the situation is 
grave and we join in his call to Nepal's leaders to 
re-establish the unity of purpose that characterized their 
efforts at the beginning of the peace process. 
 
Especially disturbing is the lack of progress in the areas 
that we have identified as critical to the peace process 
during the past several Council discussions.  We are 
especially troubled about the lack of progress in discharging 
and rehabilitating the roughly 4,000 disqualified Maoist army 
personnel from the cantonments, nearly 3,000 of whom are 
minors, and whose rehabilitation and reintegration into 
Nepali society is a critical test of Nepal's ability to 
effect reconciliation within the terms of the CPA and to 
offer a stable and prosperous future to all of its citizens. 
We commend UNMIN and other UN staff cited in the report for 
their attention to this issue and we again urge the 
Government of Nepal and the Maoist party to immediately avail 
itself of the assistance that UNMIN is ready to provide in 
discharging all non-certified persons remaining in the 
cantonments. 
 
Equally troubling is that the Special Committee responsible 
for supervising, rehabilitating, and integrating Maoist army 
personnel into the security forces has essentially ceased to 
function since May.  We note that the supporting Technical 
Committee has continued to work in a limited fashion, but 
with the Special Committee providing no direction, there is 
no immediate prospect that the Technical Committee will be 
able to formulate or implement a plan to rehabilitate or 
integrate the verified combatants. 
 
Despite the discouraging lack of progress in implementing the 
CPA, we have no intention of abandoning the Nepali people 
during this difficult period.  We take into account the 
request by the Nepalese government for the Council to extend 
UNMIN,s mandate and of the Secretary General's subsequent 
recommendation that the Council meet that request.  In light 
of the indispensable role that UNMIN still has to play in 
completing the discharge of the disqualified, including 
minors, from the Maoist army cantonments, the rehabilitation 
and integration of Maoist combatants, the integration of all 
forces into a security structure accountable to civilian 
leaders, and continuing to foster political reconciliation 
and the implementation of the CPA, we look forward to working 
with our Council colleagues to renew UNMIN,s mandate in a 
manner that most effectively allows it continue its critical 
work. 
 
At the same time, we stand by the call in the Council's most 
recent resolution on Nepal for the government to create 
conditions conducive to the completion of UNMIN,s mandate by 
January 23, 2010.  In our view, this call underlines the need 
for Nepal's political leaders to take full ownership of and 
responsibility for the implementation of the peace process. 
We point out, as we did six months ago during this debate, 
that the Government of Nepal should not expect that UNMIN 
will be extended indefinitely if the government does not take 
the essential steps necessary to move the peace process 
forward. 
 
Reasons for optimism and hope still remain in Nepal.  Despite 
the succession of political disagreements and setbacks, all 
of Nepal's political parties continue to engage in dialogue 
and to participate in the political process.   We see no 
serious threat of a return to civil war, and the desire for 
peace, at least among the Nepali people is broad and deep. 
The U.S. will maintain our commitment to the people of Nepal 
and support their effort to complete the peace process, to 
adopt a new constitution, and to guarantee themselves a 
peaceful and prosperous future under a new democratic 
government. 
 
-- Thank you. 
 
End Points. 
CLINTON