A second round of high-level peace talks between Nepal's PM and rebel Maoist leaders may be delayed as the rebels pledged to extend a three month ceasefire.
KATHMANDU: A second round of high-level peace talks between Nepal's PM and rebel Maoist leaders may be delayed as the rebels pledged to extend a three month ceasefire.
"We are doing homework to organise the high-level talks as slated on Friday but it will be postponed by a few days if the preparations are not complete," Amik Sherchan, one of Nepal's two deputy prime ministers said.
The planned second-round talks follow a landmark meeting in mid-June between 85-year-old Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist leaders.
"Friday's talks are most likely to be postponed because the government team needs more time for preparation," another minister said on condition of anonymity.
Earlier on Wednesday the Maoist spokesman said that a three-month ceasefire due to end in just over a week would be extended and that the Maoists wanted "to establish lasting peace in the country".
Also on Wednesday, the recently reinstated government said for the first time that it planned to hold constituent assembly elections before the end of April 2007.
"As we plan to hold the election to the constituent assembly by the end of the current Nepali year (mid-April 2007), I would be grateful if you could start extending the necessary support of the United Nations," Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala said in a letter to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan sent on July 3 but made public on Wednesday.
The letter marks the first time the government has publicly given a time-frame for the constituent assembly elections, a key demand of Maoist rebels. The assembly will draft a new constitution.
The rebels and the government, reinstated at the end of April after King Gyanendra was forced to end 14 months of direct rule, have been observing a ceasefire for three months.
Nearly three weeks of pro-democracy protests organized by sidelined political parties in concert with rebel Maoists crippled the country, leaving 19 people dead and forcing the king to back down.
After the first meeting between the premier and rebels on June 16, the two sides announced that an interim constitution would be drafted that will allow the rebels to join an interim government.
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