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Nepal Army chief to visit UK to boost military ties

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, Oct 3, IRNA -- Nepal’s Army chief Chhatra Man Singh Gurung will begin a key visit to the UK Sunday to boost bilateral military ties at a time when Britain has underlined the need to find a consensus to integrate the former Maoist guerrillas into the security forces.

General Gurung, who is leaving for London Sunday on a ten-day visit, will hold talks with top officials and visit Headquarters of the Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkha Welfare Trust and Gorkha Museum.

This will be the first official visit to UK by the Nepal Army chief. The top general, who is going to the UK at the invitation of Chief of General Staff Sir Peter Wall will also visit the Defence Academy, pti reported.

The visit comes amid the political uncertainty in Nepal that has derailed the 2006 landmark peace process. Three months after the 22-party coalition led by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal collapsed; nine rounds of voting in Parliament have failed to elect a new leader. The country has been without a government since 30th June, when Nepal stood down under intense pressure from the Maoists.

Amid the political crisis, Nepal's parties are also deadlocked over the future of the U.N.-verified 19,000 Maoist combatants, who have to be rehabilitated and integrated with the military, a key part of the 2006 Comprehensive Peace Accord that ended the decade-long insurgency and brought the former Maoist rebels into mainstream politics. The standoff has put new stresses on Nepal's reconciliation efforts amid fears that the stalled peace process may be derailed.

The UK, which is a major financial donor for Nepal and has close links with the military, has expressed concern over the deadlock and called for consensus among the parties to push the peace process forward.

Earlier this week, Nepali Congress leader R C Poudyal, the sole candidate for the post of Prime Minister, failed in his ninth attempt in a row to garner a majority in parliament.

Following Maoist chief Prachanda's failure to get majority support in Parliament seven times in a row, he withdrew from the election on September 17 after a deal with the CPN-UML in bid to facilitate the formation of a national consensus government.

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Islamic Republic News Agency/IRNA NewsCode: 30000924