Donors warn aid cutoff

By Bhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 12 Nov: Donors have threatened to cutoff aid at a time when the country is embroiled in a dispute over army integration, Janaastha reports.
Donors, through the foreign ministry, have warned the government of an aid cutoff if the peace process is derailed.
Donors are preparing to put pressure on the government before the cutoff, a Finland embassy source said.
Only 16 months remain to complete drafting the constitution, donors have been reminding the government, according to a foreign ministry source.
Danish foreign minister is coming to put pressure on the government even as former rebels have formed a government after election; the election of rebels shouldn’t obstruct the peace process.
The Danish minister is arriving after the visit of Indian foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee on 24 November.
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Prachanda promises govt. compensation amid internal resistance

ByBhola B Rana

Kathmandu, 12 Nov: Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda Tuesday assured compensation to victims of the 11-year people’s war with government funds if their assets aren’t returned by mid-December by the party.
The assets were seized by the party and not the government.
Prachanda plans to use government resources to compensate victims, if there are hurdles in promised return of seized property.
Prachanda gave such assurance to the constituent assembly (CA) after pressures from main opposition Nepali Congress to return seized assets or face street protests.
Prachanda relented and gave a commitment.
The prime minister proposed government compensation after opposition from party grassroots not to return seized assets, including houses and agriculture land, even after directives from top party leadership.
Hours before Prachanda promised compensation or return of seized assets , Maoist Minister Gopal Kirati said firmly in Jhapa seized assets of ‘feudals’ won’t be returned and mentioned the name of top Congress leader K.B.Gurung.
“Society’s disrupted people can’t be rewarded,” Kirati said.
Maoist leadership has faced resistance from elsewhere in the country as well even after promising to return seized assets as agreed in agreements with other parties.
People holding seized assets are refusing to return the assets handed to them by the party.
CPN (Maoist) has also been saying assets , especially land, will be returned only after a implementation of scientific land reforms or distribution of land to landless and the por.
Similarly, former combatants are also demanding either mass integration in the Nepal Army threatening to revolt if political leadership doesn’t push it.
CPN (Maoist) faces a dilemma.
Military leaders have been visiting cantonments and camps to placate rebellious fighters under the watch of UNMIN.
Nepali Congress leaders have said they’ll watch if Maoists fulfill their commitments.
Nepali Congress, which abandoned the pre-conditions before the 10 April Ca election which it lost to Maoists, renewed the demands after ouster from government and defeat at the polls.
Congress wasn’t serious on pushing the demands in the first place.
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Youth Force meets 9 Jan

Kathmandu, 12 Nov: CPN_UML Youth Force meets in the capita two days from 9 January 2009, Budabar party mouthpiece reports.
The Force was created to fight the Maoist YCL.
CPN-UML Home Minister Bamadeb Gautam both forces should be disbanded because they have been taking law into their own hands.
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