FROM THE UNSC, A TALE OF INDIA, NEPAL AND JEEPS
January 15, 2011, was a Saturday. It was snowing in New York, but I perked up when I was told that the United Nations’ (UN) undersecretary-general for political affairs wanted to speak to me. Being new on the UN Security Council (UNSC), I braced myself to deal with a matter of grave importance for international peace and security. The call was about jeeps.
India served on the UNSC from 2011 to 2012, a time which saw much happening on the world stage including the Arab Spring and the start of the conflict in Syria. India’s first major act as a part of the UNSC was to end the
UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN). I was India’s deputy permanent representative to the UN at the time.
In November 2006, the Government of Nepal and the Maoists signed a Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end a civil war that had wracked the country for over a decade. To disarm the rebel army, on Nepal’s request, the UNSC established UNMIN.
This was a political — not peacekeeping — mission to monitor the disarming of the rebels and help with elections for a new constituent assembly. As a goodwill gesture, India provided many jeeps (Tata vehicles, Mahindra Scorpios etc) to help UNMIN with its transport needs along with containers for arms storage.
UNMIN’s mandate was extended several times — UN officials with peacekeeping and political mandates have a tendency to find new reasons to stretch their mission, often believing that they are responsible for “running” the country. In Nepal, this “mission creep” was restrained, as all sides agreed that UNMIN succeeded in its mission. And so, in 2010, the Government of Nepal made a strong case to the international community to end UNMIN. The UNSC adopted a resolution ordering the winding up of UNMIN by May 15, 2010 (the operations ended only on January 15, 2011).
The surrendered weapons were to be handed over to the Nepal Army, which irked UNMIN for it was seen as a force supposedly representing the status quo. Indeed, I recall at least two visits by UNMIN’s head of mission to see me in New York and repeatedly emphasise the unsuitability of the Nepal Army as a monitor for the arms and the need for its size to be cut.
The idea of closure did not go down well with the UNMIN with the head of the mission in her report noting possibilities of renewed civil war, presidential rule and even a military coup in Nepal once UNMIN left. This doomsday conjecture was roundly criticised by all parties in Nepal.
Through 2009 and 2010, India had also been active with important governments on the Nepali interest to wind up UNMIN. We were happy to see its winding up as one of the first acts of the UNSC during our term. The
Hindustan Times reported this as a major victory for India.
Back to the jeeps.
As UNMIN wrapped up, the UN was keen to ship the Indian jeeps to another UN mission in Africa. We were clear: These should be handed over to the Nepal Army as they would continue to deal with the rebels and carry on the arms monitoring work of UNMIN.
The undersecretary-general’s call to me that Saturday in January 2011 was a last-ditch effort to retain the vehicles with the UN, even choosing to give me a small lesson in the ways of the world: Gifts are not returned.
Years later, I was posted to Nepal as India’s ambassador. Imagine my surprise when I found a few UNMIN jeeps in the embassy compound. Apparently UNMIN returned these to the embassy in 2008 — after the elections; years before the mission wound up, finding them surplus to their need. So much for the ways of the world! (This is the first in a series of monthly articles till the end of the year on India at the UNSC and stories of high diplomacy) Manjeev S Puri is former ambassador and India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN The views expressed are personal