Washington, Mar 22 (UNI) Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has described India as the United States' "closest international partner" in working on affairs in Nepal.

The United States has "very close cooperation" with New Delhi, she told a panel of the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee yesterday.

In reply to a question, Rice said current US Ambassador to Nepal "Jim Moriarty is a very capable ambassador and I think has worked with the Nepalese through an extremely difficult period in which we were trying to get the government to be more responsive to peace -- the possibilities of a peace agreement." Ambassador Moriarty had worked for Rice when she was National Security advisor to President before taking over as the Secretary of State.

Referring to the situation in Nepal, Rice said, "I think there is a little concern now that any peace agreement makes certain that there is a demobilisation or a disarmament of Maoist rebels, so that is the peace that is being worked through. But the situation is still, I would say, somewhat tenuous there, though there are possibilities." Earlier a law maker had also raised the plight of the Bhutanese refugees in Nepal.

Rice in response said, "they are covered, I believe, under our general refugee policy." But she promised to provide an update on the refugee situation.

"I recognise the problem of the Bhutanese not being able to go back and obviously not wanting to stay in a refugee camp, but I will get an update for you (the member who asked the question) on where we are on that issue," Rice said.

UNI