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2100 PLA troops verified

Friday - 19th January 2007

KATHMANDU, Jan 19 - On the second day of registration of Maoist arms and troops, United Nations monitors Thursday verified 1,550 People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel - 1,039 at the Maoist cantonment site at Shaktikhor (Chitwan) and 511 at Jhyaltung Danda (Nawalparasi), according to PLA sources.

With this, the number of Maoist combatants registered with the UN has reached 2,122 in the first two days after the process began on Wednesday.

However, reliable PLA sources said almost all the combatants registered were unarmed. This means no weapons have yet been locked away, because technical devises (like sirens) for 24-hour monitoring haven't yet arrived.

Meanwhile, Maoist Third Division (Chitwan) commander Bibidh said verification of arms and their storage in containers couldn't take place as "the process of managing containers couldn't be completed today". "Immediately after verifying the combatants, arms storage will begin," he said. He also said it will take one more week to complete the verification of arms and troops. The Maoists, however, haven't yet made public the names of combatants who were disqualified by the UN monitors.
Maoist combatants to register in two phases

Ian Martin, Personal Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General, said here Thursday that registration of the Maoist combatants is being done in two phases to make sure that "bona-fide" personnel meeting all the criteria get registered.

Speaking at a press conference, Martin said that in the first phase UN monitors - assisted by members of the Gurkha Interim Task Force - will gather information about the Maoist combatants. In the second phase, he said, the UN will try to confirm the information gathered in the first phase.

"In the second stage, there will be a lot of information and we will assess the veracity of information," Martin told the press meet. "Those not found bona-fide will be rejected."

The government and the Maoists said in their arms agreement that those recruited into the Maoist army after 25 May 2006 (when the ceasefire code of conduct was signed) and those less than 18 years of age will not be registered.

On the occasion, General Jan Erik Wilhelmsen, military advisor to Martin, said there will be no apparent gap between the first and second phases. When the first phase starts at one site, Gen. Wilhelmsen said, the second phase may start at another.

However, neither Martin nor Wilhelmsen wanted to disclose any information regarding the number of arms and combatants registered at the Chitwan and Nawalparasi cantonment sites on Wednesday, which marked the start of registration and storage of Maoist arms and troops.

"The beginning of the registration process has gone smoothly," said Martin. "We will not be announcing daily totals of weapons or personnel registered at the sites, although we will obviously be sharing this information with the concerned parties at an appropriate juncture and expect it to be made public only at the end of the process."

Martin also said the UN monitors are registering even those Maoist combatants not having individual weapons. That means, there won't be an equal number of arms and combatants.

While the weapons are to be safely stored and locked in containers, other objects like socket bombs are to be stored separately near the camps, said Martin.

Gen. Wilhelmsen informed that grease and oil have been applied to the weapons stored to make sure that they aren't damaged. Martin also informed that the UN monitors have been deployed to operate out of offices in Nepalgunj and Kathmandu, and an advance team has gone to Biratnagar to establish an office there. The Nepali Army weapons will be stored at a barracks in the outskirts of Kathmandu. However, the name of the barracks hasn't been disclosed.


Source ekantipur