Agreement to solve Bhutanese refugee problem

Nepal and Bhutan have agreed to form what they call a verification committee within a week in an attempt to solve the problem of Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.

The agreement was announced after three days of talks in Kathmandu between the foreign ministers of the two countries.

It was the tenth round of talks between the two kingdoms over the return of one-hundred-thousand ethnic Nepalese refugees who say they are Bhutanese.

They have been living in Nepal for the past decade after allegedly being evicted by the Bhutanese government.

Bhutan has claimed that most of the refugees are non-Bhutanese.

The verification committee will now visit the refugee camps to establish who are genuine Bhutanese and who should, therefore, be repatriated. Both sides welcomed the announcement, with the Nepalese foreign minister, Chakra Prasad Bastola, calling it the beginning of a new phase in the resolution of the issue.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service