Nepal's peace process has been exceptional in the extent to which it was a truly national achievement and not one mediated by any international actor. The United Nations Mission in Nepal (UNMIN) too has been unusual among recent UN peace operations, which increasingly have had wide-ranging mandates, in the limited focus of its support, and among UN missions with a military function, in the lightness of its military component. This chapter explains how this mandate and mission configuration – negotiated between the expectations of the parties and the capacities of the UN – came about. It describes the work of UNMIN in monitoring the commitments of the peace agreements regarding the armies and their weapons and in assisting the country on its troubled path toward the election of a Constituent Assembly. It explains how the breakdown of cooperation among the parties after the election success of the Maoists delayed decisions about the future of the combatants and the nature of a federal constitution for the new republic. It concludes by considering the flaws in Nepal's peace process and the strengths and weaknesses of an unusual UN mission in this context, particularly the tensions UNMIN faced between a limited mandate and high expectations, as well as its inability to determine its exit strategy when it depended on decisions that it was largely excluded from assisting.

The End of the War

The decision of the political leaders who shaped the peace process to request a significant UN role grew out of a longer period of mostly low-profile political engagement followed by a shorter period of high-profile human rights monitoring.