Nepal elections agreement reached

The government of Nepal and Maoist rebels have agreed to hold elections by the middle of June, and form a special assembly to write a new constitution.

They say an election commission will be established for this purpose as soon as possible. The decision came on the second day of key peace talks.

The talks are aimed at ending the Maoist's decade-long insurgency.

The two sides will meet again on Thursday when they hope to reach a consensus on a whole range of issues.

Those talks will include the Maoists' participation in an interim government.

A senior leader of the governing coalition, Bimlendra Nidhi, said that Tuesday's talks were held in a "cordial atmosphere".

He said that the two sides had agreed to appoint the election commissioners in a week's time who would make preparations for constituent assembly elections by June next year.

Mr Nidhi said a final date for elections will only be decided after an interim administration is put in place.

Tuesday's talks - the second round of negotiations since a ceasefire took effect in April - were between leaders of the governing seven-party alliance and the Maoists.

The aim is to end the 10-year Maoist insurgency.

The two sides differ over the key issue of disarming the rebels, the future of the monarchy and a proposed interim government.

The Maoists, who are demanding that the monarchy be abolished, have warned that if these talks fail, they will launch massive protests in Nepal's cities.

Disarmament

The 85-year-old prime minister, GP Koirala, has said Nepal should give a positive message to the world by settling its problems through dialogue.

In the earlier talks, both sides agreed to hold constituent assembly elections next year to draft a new constitution.

They also agreed to seek UN supervision of the arms management question, and confine their respective troops within designated camps and barracks.

The government wants the rebels to disarm ahead of inducting them into an interim administration to hold the assembly elections.

The rebels have refused. They insist that political issues should be settled ahead of the disarmament.

A truce has been in place since April after a popular uprising forced king Gyanendra to end his direct rule and give way to a multi-party government of the agitating parties.

The rebels, who backed the anti-king agitation, subsequently entered into peace talks to end the conflict that has left 13,000 people dead.

Although the monarch has recently been stripped of all executive power, the rebels want the immediate abolition of the monarchy.

Mr Koirala has ruled that out. He wants the fate of the monarchy to be decided by the constituent assembly elections next year.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6036131.stm