Put Nepali peacekeepers at helm, PM tells UN
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KATHMANDU, SEP 26 -
Prime Minister Baburam Bhattarai has called on the UN put Nepali peacekeepers at the helm of peacekeeping operations.
His made the call for equitable representation of Nepali peacekeepers in the UN peace keeping mission during his New York visit. Such an official concern from the government comes at a time senior generals of the Nepal Army have been deprived of becoming force commanders in peace keeping missions.
Prime Minister Bhattarai raised the issue during his meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on September 21 and in his address before the UN General Assembly on Saturday, according to Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs Narayan Kaji Shrestha. "The Secretary General lauded Nepal's contribution to the UN peacekeeping and noted that he was positive on our concerns for representation of Nepal Army officers in the senior peacekeeping appointments," Shrestha told the Post over telephone from New York.
The Nepal Army was expecting diplomatic efforts from the government because none of its senior generals were nominated for leadership positions in the UN peacekeeping operations since 2008. The then Maj Gens Nepal Bhusan Chand and Netra Bahadur Thapa in 2010 and Maj Gen Pawan Bahadur Pande in 2011 had unsuccessfully applied for force commanders of various peacekeeping missions.
Nepal has already provided over 80,000 peacekeepers to the UN since 1958 and 62 Nepali soldiers have laid down their lives in the line of duty. Nepal is the fifth largest troop contributing nation among 114 countries.
According to statistics released by the UN last month, 4,231 men and 109 female peacekeepers from Nepal were deployed in 11 UN peacekeeping missions. The commanding positions were recently conferred to senior military personnel from Bangladesh, Pakistan and India—the three major troop contributors in the UN.
The Nepal Army's lobbying against the UNMIN in Nepal, its failure to take action against military personnel with records of serious human rights violation and Nepal's weak diplomacy in New York are said to be the major reasons for the decline of Nepal Army's representation in major positions of the UN.
PM Bhattarai's predecessors, who addressed the UNGA in the capacity of the prime ministers, had highlighted the contribution of Nepal Army in the UN peacekeeping operations without raising the issue of the 'glass ceiling' in the leadership positions. "Nepal's participation in UN peacekeeping is long-standing and consistent. We remain steadfast in our commitment to international peace and security," said Bhattarai in his address on Saturday calling for equitable representation in the leadership level.
Posted on: 2011-09-27 03:20
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