Dec 04, 2006

Nagalim: Talks to Be Held in Amsterdam


A group of ministers will hold talks with the top leadership of the NSCN-IM in Amsterdam from Monday to take forward the Naga peace process that has been deadlocked since the last round of negotiations in October.

A group of ministers will hold talks with the top leadership of the NSCN-IM in Amsterdam from Monday to take forward the Naga peace process that has been deadlocked since the last round of negotiations in October.

The group, headed by Union Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes, will meet a NSCN-IM delegation led by its chairman Isaac Chisi Swu and general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah and is expected to discuss all "substantive" issues for a solution to the country’s oldest insurgency problem during the two-day talks, official sources said here today.

Reports of major clashes between cadres of NSCN-IM and its rival NSCN-Khaplang, which have resulted in the death of several people in the recent past, may figure in the talks.

The NSCN-IM is likely to demand immediate government action to "control" the cadres of the NSCN-K, which also has a ceasefire pact with the Centre, since such incidents may increase tension in Nagaland, the sources said.

The meeting will review progress made since the NSCN-IM submitted a 20-point charter of demands to the Centre.

In this charter, the NSCN-IM had sought the unification of all Naga-inhabited areas of the Northeast, separate representation at the UN and greater rights over natural resources, finance, defense and policing.