The Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, has said Nepal’s peace process has stalled over the past three months, with tensions and mistrust between the main opposition UCPN-Maoist and the government growing. Presenting a report in the Security Council about the progress on the peace process, Ban said major disagreements that have brought the peace process close to a standstill remain unsolved, increasing the risk of its collapse. Calling on all political parties to overcome their differences, Ban said: “Positions have hardened at the opposing ends of the political spectrum, which has seriously eroded the common middle ground that had, from the outset, defined the peace process and remained its driving strength. There is a growing and worrying risk of the political discourse being dominated by extreme voices and the focus shifting away from the peaceful and democratic path.” He said that the integration and rehabilitation of Maoist army personnel and democratisation of the army are critical. Ban cited as violations of the peace accord, the UCPN-M-led protest programmes calling for “civilian supremacy” that disrupted normal life as well as the functioning of government offices around the country, sharply escalating tensions over seizure of plots of land and crops by people with the support of UCPN-M-affiliated organisations, and the repeated call for fresh recruitment for the army. He added that the UCPN-M failed to take any action to address the alleged involvement of party members in serious crimes, both during and after the conflict, including the killings of a businessperson and journalists and the bombing of a bus in the year 2005 that resulted in the death of 36 civilian passengers.