UN mission starts storing Nepal army weapons

The process began on Tuesday when the Nepal Army presented around 850 weapons.

The United Nations Political Mission in Nepal has begun registering and storing Nepal Army weapons as part of the world body's assistance in the implementation of a peace deal between the government and the Maoists.

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Under the Agreement on Monitoring of the Management of Arms and Armies (AMMAA), the Nepal Army agreed to register and safely store under UN monitoring an equivalent number of weapons to those stored by the Maoist army.

"I am very pleased with the weapons registration process which has gone smoothly," said General Jan Erik Wilhelmsen, the UNMIN official in charge of the monitoring of arms and armies.

"The Nepal Army has provided full cooperation in this registration and weapons storage process, and I am confident that we will complete the process this week," he said.

The process began Tuesday when the Nepal Army presented around 850 weapons for registration and storage by UN teams at the Chhauni Barracks in the capital Kathmandu.

Fourteen UN registration teams, supported by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), registered each weapon individually, attaching a barcode before storing it in one of 14 large containers.

UNMIN monitors were present throughout the registration process, and would maintain a 24-hour presence at the barracks.