IRIN: Political uncertainty hampers development work - NGOs September 2006

Political uncertainty hampers development work - NGO

Kathmandu, 25 Sep 2006 (IRIN)

Since the start of the peace process in April, aid workers in Nepal have been able to work without fear in remote areas of the country, but uncertainty over its outcome is still hampering development projects, they say.

The decade-long armed conflict has adversely affected development work in Nepal, one of world's poorest countries, where 31 percent of the country's population lives below the poverty line The Maoists - who had been waging an armed rebellion since 1996 against the Nepalese state - have observed an indefinite ceasefire with the interim government, formed by the seven national parties, since jointly leading a successful mass uprising against the absolute rule of the Nepalese monarch, King Gyanendra.

But despite a series of peace talks, serious obstacles remain on both sides, according to local independent analysts.

"There is a political uncertainty [which is] causing hesitation among the aid agencies as to whether to increase their funding support for Nepal," said Arjun Karki, President of the Nepal Federation of NGOs (NFN).

According to the members of the government negotiating team, the Maoists have still not agreed to disarm while the peace process is ongoing. At the same time, the rebels claim that the government is turning a deaf ear to their demands for dissolving the Nepalese parliament, which still does not include Maoists representatives.

Following a meeting last week, both sides have now resolved to hammer out their differences in forthcoming talks.

Young female Maoists seeking refuge in a poor farmer's house. The family feels uncomfortable about their presence - they fear the reaction of the security forces if they find out that the family has sheltered rebels. "A political resolution is key to implementing development projects successfully. The demands for more aid work, especially for poverty alleviation in rural areas, are increasing every day," Karki explained. He said that now even ex-combatants from the rebel force and internally displaced persons (IDPs) were eager to participate in community development activities - what was needed was the right political environment.

"Although there are no severe obstacles to implementing our projects, there is growing hesitation among us. The main concern is demoralisation among the workers based in remote villages," said Anil Pant, team leader for human security and governance at Action Aid Nepal, one of the most prominent national NGOs focused on poverty alleviation work.

He explained that no large-scale funding had arrived and that there was little sign of new projects coming as had been expected after the cessation of armed hostilities.

The rebels continue to prevent government-run agencies from implementing their development programmes, NGOs say, noting that local governing bodies like the Village Development Committee (VDC) offices still remain closed in most of the 75 districts of the country.

"We had expected that things would be easier for development workers following peace but there is still a sense of fear in the aid community," said Sarbaraj Khadka from Rural Reconstruction Nepal (RRN), a local NGO working in nearly 24 districts of the country and focusing on rural infrastructural building, food security, health access and community empowerment.

Local Maoists in the villages also told IRIN that their demands for NGOs to register with the party to pay taxes were not unreasonable. "We control about 80 percent of the country and we have every right to impose taxes and register these NGOs," said Maoist leader Purna Subedi in Banke district, 600 km west of the capital.

She explained that the Maoists have developed a new NGO policy in which only a selected group of aid agencies would be allowed to work. The policy is mostly directed against the agencies and local NGOs funded by the USA government, whom the rebels accuse of being anti-Maoists. "They still call us terrorists," said Subedi.

Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), part of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).