TOP US ARMY GENERAL IN TOWN FOR FOUR-DAY VISIT

TOP US ARMY GENERAL IN TOWN

Kathmandu, 4 Dec.: Lt. Gen. Francis J. Wiercinski, Commanding General of the US Army Pacific (USARPAC), arrived Saturday for a four-day
visit.
He’s visiting on the invitation of Army Chief Gen. Chetraman Singh Gurung.
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MEDIA GOOGLE


“The party would unleash a mass movement to seize power
if the peace and constitution drafting process falls prey to
conspiracy of the reactionaries.”

(Maoist Chairman Prachanda, Republica, 4 Dec.)
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GOVT TELLS OHCHR-N TO QUIT


Kathmandu, 4 Dec.: Despite national and international pressure to renew the mandate of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nepal (OHCHR-N), the government has informed OHCHR officials in Kathmandu that it will not renew the term of the UN rights body when its current mandate expires on December 8, multiple sources have confirmed, Kiran Chapagain reports in Republica..

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayankaji Shrestha refused to elaborate on the exact position of the government on renewal of the OHCHR-N mandate, but he told Republica that he has informed OHCHR-N chief Jyoti Sanghera and senior officials from the OHCHR Geneva office that the government “has not changed the six-month old decision of the previous government” that requires the UN rights office to prepare an exit strategy.

“I communicated to the OHCHR officials recently that the incumbent government has not changed the decision of the previous government,” Shrestha told Republica when asked for the government´s position on renewal of mandate for OHCHR-N, which was established in 2005, when its current mandate expires.

Sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers also confirmed to Republica that Shrestha clearly told Sanghera and visiting senior officials from OHCHR Geneva that the government would not renew the mandate any further.

According to sources, Shrestha made the government´s position clear during a meeting with Sanghera and other OHCHR officials on Thursday. The same day, Chief Secretary Madhav Prasad Ghimire also communicated the government´s position to OHCHR officials during a meeting at his office. Both Shrestha and Ghimire had acknowledged the role of OHCHR-N in the protection and promotion of human rights.

As the government made its position clear on not continuing the mandate of the UN rights office, Sanghera and the visiting OHCHR officials from Geneva had asked all staff to be ready to wind up the office.

The government´s decision to continue with the earlier position prompted civil society leaders to call an all-of-a-sudden meeting at a café in Patan on Thursday in the presence of OHCHR officials. Following the meeting, the civil society leaders issued a statement calling on the government to renew the mandate of the UN rights body.

OHCHR-N officials then met Nepali Congress President Sushil Koirala and CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal on Friday to seek their support for renewing the mandate. During the meetings, OHCHR-N official pointed to Clause 9.1 of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to make their point that its presence in Nepal was still necessary.

The provision reads, "Both parties agree to give continuity to the monitoring of the human rights related provisions contained in this agreement by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nepal.”
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