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» South Asia » Nepal » Saturday, June 3, 2006 European Commission asks Maoists to disarm http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/7598_1712265,000500020003.htm Press Trust of India Kathmandu, June 3, 2006 Asking Maoists to renounce violence, the European Commission has said the rebels must decommission their arms to ensure free and fair elections to the constituent assembly in the future in Nepal. Maoists must renounce violence and commit to decommissioning their weapons as a precondition for free and fair elections to a constituent assembly and to move ahead the peace process, said Harve Jouanjean, Deputy Director General of the Directorate General for External Affairs of the European Commission (EC). He said that the EC is ready to extend support in the peace-building process of Nepal. Despite some positive developments over the past weeks including the agreement reached between the government and Maoists on the Code of Conduct, there are still many challenges ahead, he told reporters. "We have discussed how the international community can best support the process ahead towards durable peace and support Nepal in recapturing human, social and economic development potentials," Jouanjean said. The European Commission official during his brief stay in Nepal called on Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and other ministers and civil society leaders and discussed possible support the Commission can extend for rehabilitating the insurgency-hit country, a press release said. The Commission has experience in areas such as election monitoring, promotion of human rights and post-conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation, it said. © HT Media Ltd. 2005.
