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Nepal peace talks adjourned

Ameet Dhakal

KATHMANDU: Peace talks between the Government and the Maoists were adjourned on Sunday for an indefinite period after they failed to reach an agreement.

Though a major breakthrough was expected on Sunday, leaders of the Seven-Party Alliance and the Maoists met only for about 15 minutes and adjourned the talks till "homework" on the details is completed.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala announced the adjournment after he held a joint consultation with Maoist Chairman Prachanda, the former Prime Minister, Sher Bhadur Deuba, and CPN-UML general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal.

Monarchy and arms

Insiders say the rebels and the SPA, mainly the Nepal Congress (NC), could not agree on monarchy and the arms management.

Mr. Prachanda has challenged the SPA to abolish the monarchy and he would lock up his army's weapons and leave it under U.N. monitoring.

But the NC insists that the fate of monarchy should be decided only by a Constituent Assembly.

The talks ended so abruptly that the two sides did not even issue a press statement. Both sides used to brief the press about the outcome of the talks.

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