The communists’ threat followed an announcement this week by Nepal’s army that it wanted 3,400 personnel to join.
New recruits would be sought for the communist party’s military wing because the army violated the peace agreement by launching its own recruitment drive, Chandra Prakash Khanal, deputy commander of the Maoist’s People’s Liberation Army, said.
Khanal said it was still to be decided how many personnel it plans to retain.
The Maoists confined 19,000 fighters in UN-monitored camps since signing a peace agreement with the government in 2006, ending their decade-long insurgency.
The peace agreement prevents both the army and communists from recruiting new military personnel.
Nepal’s army published an announcement earlier this week in newspapers urging people to join but said it was not recruiting, only filling vacant positions.
The United Nations issued a statement expressing concern. “Recruitment by either the Nepal Army or the Maoist army constitutes a breach of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement,” the UN said. The UN has written to the government and the Maoists urging both to respect the peace deal.
Nepal is bogged down in political infighting with Parliament unable to elect a new prime minister after three attempts in the past two weeks. Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal resigned in June but continues to run a caretaker government.
India is to send a senior envoy to Nepal to help resolve the political crisis that has left the Himalayan nation without a prime minister for five weeks, an official in New Delhi said Wednesday.
Former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran will travel to Katmandu to aid talks between rival parties who have repeatedly failed to elect a new prime minister in the latest chapter of a long power struggle.
“Nepal’s political situation is in limbo, and India wants to help them set up a stable government,” an Indian Foreign Ministry official said.
Saran is expected to leave for Nepal later this week and will hold meetings with party leaders over the political deadlock.
Nepal’s parliament is set to hold a fourth vote on Friday to try to elect a new prime minister.
