Nepal government accuses UN mission of violating diplomatic norms

Kathmandu - The Nepalese government has accused the United Nations Mission in Nepal of breaching diplomatic norms by dealing directly with government offices, local reports said Monday.

The Ministry for Home Affairs made the accusations in a letter dated Sunday, the Nepalese newspaper Republica reported, after an UN official made an enquiry request directly to the police.

"It is a violation of diplomatic norms," ministry spokesman Jaya Mukunda Khanal said.

The ministry requested that the mission conduct its exchanges through the Peace Ministry, the Nagarik daily reported.

The accusation came after the United Nations Mission's chief arms monitor Colonel Marcos Manuel Miranda Caceres wrote to Nepal Police Inspector General Ramesh Chand Thakuri, asking for an investigation into the death of a former Maoist combatant.

The mission is responsible for monitoring the peace process which ended the Maoist-led insurgency four years ago, after a decade of conflict. The mission supervises more than 19,000 former Maoist fighters in encampments around the country.