Nepal rebels seek new talks to tackle differences

By Staff
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Google Oneindia News

KATHMANDU, June 12 (Reuters) Nepal's Maoist rebels today said that a new round of peace talks with the government would be held soon, a day after the guerrilla chief met a senior minister in a remote village in the west of the country.

The meeting between Prachanda and chief government negotiator Krishna Prasad Sitaula was the elusive rebel leader's first known encounter with a high ranking government official since the insurgency began in 1996.

It took place in Sikalesh, a small village about 200 km west of Kathmandu.

''They met for more than two hours and talked about making the ongoing talks successful,'' said Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the chief rebel negotiator who was present at the meeting.

The meeting, over tea and biscuits at a hillside country home, discussed plans for talks between the rebel chief and Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, he said.

''We want this to take place early,'' Mahara told Reuters, but gave no date. ''We are trying to narrow down our differences in informal meetings and want to take some political decisions during the next formal talks.'' Analysts said the meeting had given a boost to the slow-moving peace process which resumed last month. There had been no talks with the rebels for three years.

''Now both sides will move fast and focus more on the peace talks,'' said Rajendra Dahal, editor of the news magazine, Himal.

Separately, a court in the Indian city of Chennai sentenced Nepali Maoist leader Chandra Prakash Gajurel three years in jail for trying to travel to London in 2003 on a forged British passport.

Gajurel will only have to spend two more months in jail since the court ordered that the period he had already spent in prison to be taken into account. He was arrested in August 2003.

The Maoists say over 150 of their comrades are in Indian jails.

FREED SOON Nepal's multi-party government, formed after King Gyanendra gave in to pro-democracy protests in April, and the Maoists, who supported the mass campaign, held preliminary talks last month for the first time since a failed dialogue in 2003.

Officials said the cabinet decided today to withdraw charges against hundreds of Maoists held under a controversial anti-terror law that allowed security forces to detain suspects for up to one year without trial.

''Our lawyers are working on this and the detained Maoists will be freed soon,'' Home Ministry spokesman Baman Prasad Neupane said.

Maoist negotiator Mahara said the move would help build confidence ahead of the next round of peace talks. More than 300 rebels were expected to be freed, he told reporters.

Local media said differences remained between the government and the rebels over holding elections to a special assembly to draft a new constitution and decide the future of the monarchy.

The Maoists want the government to dissolve the parliament reinstated in April, call a ''national political conference'' of all stakeholders and include them in an interim government.

The government says it is ready to include the Maoists in the cabinet but refuses to dissolve parliament.

More than 13,000 people have died since the conflict started in 1996.

REUTERS SY BD2027

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