UN signs key Nepali arms monitoring deal
"We will now immediately form a joint monitoring coordination committee led by the UN," said Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula.
Ian Martin, the UN chief's personal representative to the peace process, signed the accord, which Nepal's government and rebels signed in late November.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. "Some technical wording has been changed, but the sense of the agreement is the same," said Maoist spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara.
The Maoists sealed a historic peace deal with the government in early November, which grants the leftists 73 of 330 seats in an interim government.
In return they agreed to UN supervision of their weapons and soldiers in seven camps.
Martin said that an initial party of 35 UN monitors was due to arrive.
"Recruitment of those 35 is going ahead. I can't tell you exactly when they will be arriving but we hope it will be in the next two to three weeks," he said.
Martin returned from New York Wednesday, where he had briefed Annan and the Security Council on developments in the peace process.
The insurgents controlled large swathes of the countryside and claim to have 35,000 fighters, but other estimates come in at closer to 12,000. In recent weeks they have faced fresh accusations of forcibly recruiting new cadres to swell the figures. The People's Liberation Army has long offered to merge with the 90,000-strong Nepal army, which is also putting weaponry and men under UN monitoring.
The Maoists and an alliance of political parties led mass protests in April that forced King Gyanendra to abandon the absolute rule he said was needed to crush the Maoist rebellion.
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