| Registrationand storage of Nepal Army weapons begins |  |
Kathmandu11 April 2007 (UNMIN) TheUnited Nations Mission in Nepal today began the registration and storageof Nepal Army weapons at the Chhauni Barracks in Kathmandu. The registrationand storage process is expected to take place over three days. TheNepal Army today presented approximately 850 weapons for registration andstorage by UN teams on the first day of registration. Fourteen United Nationsregistration teams, supported by the UNDP, registered each weapon individually,attaching a barcode to each weapon before it was stored in one of fourteenlarge containers. Seventy registration staff are engaged in this process.UNMIN arms monitors are present throughout the registration process, andwill maintain a 24-hour presence at Chhauni Barracks from today to monitorthe weapons. Surveillance cameras have been installed at the site to ensure24-hour electronic monitoring. Thesearrangements for registration and storage of weapons are identical forthose in place for the Maoist army. Underthe Agreement on Monitoring of the Management of Arms and Armies (AMMAA),the Nepal Army agreed to register and safely store under UNMIN monitoringan equivalent number of weapons to those stored by the Maoist army. Thenumber of weapons stored by the Maoist army is 2855; in addition the Maoistarmy maintains 524 weapons for cantonment perimeter security (30 at eachdivisional site, and 14-15 at each satellite site) and continues to hold96 weapons pending an agreement on arrangements for leadership security. Registrationand storage of the Nepal Army weapons represents the final step of thefirst phase of registration of arms and combatants. The second phase willbe the verification of Maoist combatants, and this will commence shortly. "Iam very pleased with the weapons registration process today, which hasgone smoothly. The Nepal Army has provided full cooperation in this registrationand weapons storage process, and I am confident that we will complete theprocess this week,"said General Jan Erik Wilhelmsen, the UNMIN officialin charge of the monitoring of arms and armies.  | | Location:Chitwan, Nepal |
Source:UNMIN 2007top | 
