(Current Affairs) International Events | January: 2014

International Events

Iran and P5+1 Group of Nations clinched Nuclear Deal

Iran and P5+1 group of Nations reached a breakthrough deal on 24 November 2013 to curb Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for limited sanctions relief. An agreement to this effect was signed at UN Headquarters in Geneva on 24 November 2013 between the Chief negotiator for the six nations, Catherine Marie Ashton and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarief. The interim deal for six months is intended to give time and space to the international community to work towards a comprehensive agreement. After four days of negotiations, representatives o f P5+1 group of nations - the US, the UK, Russia, China, France and Germany - reached an agreement with Iran. The deal is intended as the first step in a sixmonth process aimed at a permanent resolution to the decade-old global impasse over Iran’s nuclear programme, and heading off the threat of a new war in West Asia. The Geneva deal also makes the way for releasing over 4 billion Dollars in Iranian oil sales revenue from frozen accounts, and suspends restrictions on the country’s trade in gold, petrochemicals, and car and plane parts.

In return, Iran undertakes to restrict its nuclear activities. Over the next six months Iran has agreed to:

1. Stop enriching uranium above 5 per cent, reactor-grade, and dilute its stock of 20 per centenriched uranium or convert it to oxide, which makes it harder to enrich further.

2. Not to increase its stockpile of low-enrichment uranium.

3. Freeze its enrichment capacity by not installing any more centrifuges, leaving more than half of its existing 16000 centrifuges inoperable.

4. Not to fuel or to commission the heavy-water reactor it is building in Arak or build a reprocessing plant that could produce plutonium from the spent fuel.

5. Iran will give greater access to inspectors including daily access at the Natanz and Fordo nuclear sites. In return, there will be no new nuclear-related sanctions for six months if Iran sticks by the accord.

Geneva II Syria Peace Conference

Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary General on 25 November 2013 announced the Geneva-II peace conference is to be held on 22 January 2014. The international conference is aimed at a democratic political transition in Syria, which will bring the Government and the opposition to a negotiating table for the first time, since the conflict that started in March 2011. The decision was taken at a meeting of the UN special envoy on Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi with the Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, Mikhail Bogdanov and Gennady Gatilov along with the US under Secretary for political Affairs, Wendy Sherman in Geneva on 25 November 2013. The Geneva-II conference was termed as the mission of hope by Ban Ki Moon in which, the fighting has killed more than 100000 and driven almost nine million from their homes, left countless missing and detained and terrible
violations of human rights. The goal of Geneva II would be to achieve a political solution to the conflict through a comprehensive agreement between the Government and the opposition for the full implementation of the Geneva communiqué, adopted after the first international meeting on the issue on 30 June 2012. The communiqué, which has been endorsed by the UN Security Council, lays out key steps in a process to end the violence. Among these, the establishment - based on mutual consent - of a transitional governing body with full executive powers, including over military and security entities.

Nepal Constituent Assembly elections

Nepali Congress (NC) emerged as single largest Party in the second Constituent Assembly elections which are held on 19 November 2013. The Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist) stood a close second position and the UCPN (Maoist) party is in a distant third position. Elections to the Constituent Assembly were held under two categories — first-past-the postand proportional representation.

A total of 240 seats were allocated in the first category and 365 seats in the proportional representation category. The remaining 26 seats in the 601- member will be nominated by the Cabinet later. A total of 301 seats are needed for majority and to form a government. Nepali Congress Party wins 105 of the 240 directly elected seats followed by Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) with 91 and the United Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) with 26. The NC has also emerged a clear front-runner in both the electoral formats. It won 105 seats under the direct election of candidates and has so far bagged 26 per cent under the PR system. The CPN (UML) is a close second with 91 seats and 25 per cent, respectively. The largest party in the last assembly- the UCPN (Maoist) is in a distant third position. The previous assembly - elected in 2008 after the abolition of the monarchy - was won by the former rebels. But the Constituent Assembly (CA) was bitterly divided and failed to write a new constitution.

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