Nepal races to save peacekeeping mission in Sudan

Thu, 30 Dec 2010

Kathmandu - Nepalese UN troops in Darfur, threatened with a forced shut-down of their mission due to lack of military hardware following a major procurement scandal, are to receive the urgently needed equipment from their government, officials confirmed Thursday.

The United Nations-African Union Mission in Darfur plans to repatriate the Nepalese peacekeepers if the government fails to provide the required armed personnel carriers (APCs) and other logistics by January 9, The Kathmandu Post reported.

A Home Ministry official said the Nepalese unit was told to either manage all necessary logistics before a scheduled referendum on independence for Southern Sudan on January 9, or be ready to go home.

"The UNAMID commissioner has reportedly complained that without APCs he could no longer employ non-operational Nepal Police Units to task," a letter sent by Nepal's permanent mission to the UN said.

According to the parliamentary State Affairs Committee, some 300 million rupees (400,000 dollars) were embezzled during the procurement process for the military equipment two years ago.

Among those implicated in the scandal are former home minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula, former inspector general of police Om Bikram Rana and former home secretary Umesh Mainali.

The committee Wednesday directed the government to send the supplies to the peacekeepers within 10 days and asked Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal to complete the investigation into the alleged corruption case.

Some 150 Nepalese police officers are posted to Darfur.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360123,races-peacekeeping-mission-sudan.html.