United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says Nepal's leaders need
to hurry the process of rehabilitating thousands of former rebel
soldiers.
Mr. Ban is in Nepal Saturday to assess the Himalayan country's two-year-old peace process.
The
United Nations has supervised a 2006 peace deal that ended a
decade-long civil war between Maoist rebels and Nepal's former
government, which resulted in more than 13,000 deaths.
The
former rebels won the majority of seats in April's election and now
head Nepal's coalition government, after dissolving the monarchy.
Earlier
this week, Nepal's government formed a multiparty panel to oversee the
rehabilitation of 19,000 former Maoist rebel fighters. The ex-Maoist
rebels have been living in camps under U.N. supervision since 2006.
Officials say the committee will integrate the ex-rebels into Nepal's
national army.
During his visit, Mr. Ban has met with Maoist
Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known as "Prachanda," as well as
Nepalese lawmakers.
He is expected to head to Bangladesh later Saturday.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.