Nepal to begin asking ex-rebels: army or money?
Government monitors reached seven camps spread across Nepal by
Friday to begin asking 19,000 former rebels whether they will join the
army or leave with cash to start new lives, five years after ending
their insurgency to join a peace process.
The process was long stalled over the future of the rebels.
Maoists wanted all their former fighters integrated into the army, which
military leaders and other political parties resisted. Nepal's main
political parties finally reached agreement this month.
Since
ending their bloody revolt in 2006, the former Maoist fighters have
lived in huts in the camps surrounded by barbed wire. The United Nations
supervised the fighters, whose weapons stayed locked in metal
containers inside the camps. Some fighters married and have children
living with them, though child soldiers left the camps last year.
Monitors
reached the seven camps Thursday and Friday and will start questioning
the former fighters Saturday, chief monitor Balananda Sharma said.
Decisions on who will enter the army and who will leave the camps are
expected to be finished within 10 days.
The agreement allows for
6,500 former rebels to be taken in the national army in non-combat
roles. The rest will get a rehabilitation package with up to 900,000
rupees ($11,500) cash.
After the U.N. peace mission left Nepal in January, the fighters were closely monitored by a special government committee.
The
agreement on the rebels' future now puts pressure on the coalition
government to overcome political paralysis and finish a constitution
that will determine how Nepal develops after years of civil war and
upheaval. The document was due originally in 2008.
Source: tuscaloosanews
Source: tuscaloosanews
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