Kathmandu: New Nepalese Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand said that he was open to talks with Maoist rebels to end the six-and-a-half year insurgency.

"We will try to hold dialogue with the Maoists in order to bring peace," Chand said.

But he said the first priority of his interim government, appointed on October 11 by King Gyanendra, was to end the violence that has ravaged much of the Himalayan kingdom.

"The government's top priority will be to maintain law and order and good governance and to control the Maoists' terrorism," Chand said.

"In the process of establishing peace and security, we are keeping the door open to dialogue with the Maoists."

His tone marks a change from his predecessor, Sher Bahadur Deuba, who had vowed not to hold talks with the guerrillas until they laid down their arms and gave up demands for an abolition of the monarchy.

Deuba had bitterly accused the Maoists of personal betrayal for breaking a truce with his government in November 2001 after talks initiated by the then Premier failed.

Some 5,000 people have been reported dead since the Maoists launched their "people's war" in 1996, more than two-thirds of them since the end of the ceasefire.

Gyanendra sacked Deuba on October 4, declaring him "incompetent," and assumed power for a week until appointing Chand, a staunch royalist who has served as Premier three times before.