35 Monitors will be deployed from mid-January

Personal Representative of the UN Secretary General Ian Martin has informed that the 35 monitors would be available for the deployment from 15 January. Addressing a press conference at UN Nepal office on Friday, Martin said 13 more UN monitors of out of 35 already authorized, arrived in the country.

The training of the first batch of this group of monitors ends on Saturday and they will start operating in two teams – one from Kathmandu and another from Nepalgunj.

Martin said that the recruitment and selection of the 111 members of the Interim Task Force (ITF) would be completed on Friday. The ITF that consists of ex-Gurkha soldiers is being carried out on the basis of consensus among the Nepali Army,

Maoist army and Joint Monitoring Coordination Committee (JMCC), Martin informed.

Martin also said that his military adviser would be advising the commander of the ITF on the planning, organization, training and equipment of the ITF stating that the subject to the logistical arrangements was being made by the government.

He added that they expected the ITF to deploy to the seven main cantonment sites late next week so that they and the UN arms monitors would be able to work in cooperation from the outset, under the coordination of JMCC.

According to Martin, the report of the Secretary General based on the recommendations of the Technical Assessment Mission, has been finalized.

Martin is leaving for New York on Friday with the mission of updating the progress of Nepal peace process to the member states of the Security Council and to help in finalization of planning and budgeting.

35 Monitors will be deployed from mid-January

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