Kathmandu, January 9:

UN Security Council has extended the mandate of United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) by another six months, deciding to further downsize the special political mission currently headed by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General.

With the downsizing, UNMIN will be headed by a representative of the secretary general from January 23, while the number of arms monitors will be retained at the strength of 73 and most of the 18 remaining civilian posts filled by retired military officers will be abolished.

This is stated in the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s latest report submitted to the

Security Council.

According to the report, the strength of the Political Affairs Office will be further reduced, and a number of other substantive posts eliminated, achieving a reduction of one third in substantive posts. The support services are set to be reduced substantially and the remaining functions will be performed by national staff while international support posts will be approximately halved.

In his report, the UN Secretary-General has also expressed disappointment with the slow progress on key peace process-related issues since the formation of the coalition government in August.

“I am disappointed to have to report so little progress regarding the issues most relevant to the mandate of UNMIN,” the Secretary-General observed.

“It is particularly regrettable that the political parties have so far failed to reach an agreement regarding the special committee to supervise, integrate and rehabilitate the Maoist army personnel so that it can begin its important work. That is one important indication of the wider tensions among the political parties, which could imperil the completion of the peace process and the drafting of the constitution.”

The Constituent Assembly is yet to begin substantive work for drafting the constitution despite agreeing on the regulations and naming the committee members, it states.

The government has made some progress in its efforts to facilitate contacts with armed groups, but the security situation in the southern plains remains of great concern, the report states.

“Regrettably, there has been no progress on discharge from the Maoist army cantonments of those who were minors in May 2006, along with other personnel disqualified as a result of the UNMIN verification exercise. Many peace process commitments have still not been implemented. Ki-moon also raps the decision to withdraw 349 cases of so-called political nature filed in districts.