The government has declared rather condescendingly that it will finalise the decision of the extension of UNMIN's term by the first week of December. Perhaps Ian Martin is expected to be grateful. Parties to the comprehensive peace agreement have refused to allow an enlargement of its role.
Quoting Ram Bahadur Thapa's planted interview in state-controlled The Rising Nepal, Xinhua reported with unconcealed glee: 'The mastermind [sic] behind the decade-long guerrilla warfare and building of People's Liberation Army charged that UNMIN is going against its mandate by behaving like activists and journalists." Apparently, UNMIN has succeeded in annoying both neighbouring member states and parties to the agreement in just one year.
The reason they are angry is because the presence of the Blue Jackets reminds them of their own failures. Had there been an acceptable alternative to multilateral monitoring, the term of UNMIN would probably have been allowed to lapse. So UN SUVs with proboscis antennae will continue their high visibility presence outside famous eateries along national highways for at least another six months.
Putting a limited mandate and an expiry date on UNMIN is a pity. Its expertise could have proved to be useful in at least two areas: security sector reform and mainstreaming marginalised groups.
Pushpa Kamal Dahal's latest pre-condition for constituent assembly elections is a prior amalgamation of Maoist combatants and the Nepal Army. Such an extreme position may be posturing, but the importance of rehabilitating armed guerrillas is a task that can't be postponed forever. The necessity of rightsizing the national army on the one hand and absorbing guerrilla fighters on the other is where the UN's expertise is potentially useful.
The second agenda of reforming security forces is even more complex. The establishment of unquestioned civilian supremacy over the military may require constitutional guarantees, a legal framework, competent personnel in the defence ministry, and specially the setting up of a Security Committee at the cabinet secretariat or an inclusive, independent and high-powered Peace Commission. These intricacies can't be worked out without international assistance, and the UN will be the least controversial.