Tuesday, May 23 2006 15:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kathmandu: The chief negotiator for Nepal's rebel Maoists today (May 23,2006) said there would be no early handover of weapons and set the stage for further political clashes over the role of the monarchy.

Krishna Bahadur Mahara said the Maoists did not want to return to violence after calling a temporary ceasefire in their decade-long insurgency, amid tentative peace moves with the newly-formed interim gGovernment.

But he repeatedly refused to say what the Maoists would do if Nepal's monarch were given even a ceremonial role in a planned new Constitution due to be thrashed out at an unspecified date.

"We won't be giving up arms to the government before theconstituent assembly elections," said Mahara in an interview with sources at a secret location in Kathmandu.

"We will keep our arms, otherwise it will demoralise our army," he said.

Mahara arrived on Sunday for discussions over the elections but said no formal talks would begin with the Government until an estimated 1,200-1,300 Maoist detainees are released.

Mahara said the Maoists would abide by the decisions of the constituent assembly but repeatedly declined to say what would happen if the king was given any future role.

"That will be decided in the future when the result comes," said Mahara.

"We are totally against any role for theking, either an active king or ceremonial monarchy. We are very clear on this," he said.

The new parliament last week slashed the powers of the king over the army and political life and removed the word 'royal' from many of Nepal's institutions. But Mahara said the move did not go far enough as the king remained sitting in his palace. His stance sets the rebels against the party of prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala, the Nepali Congress (NC).

A high-level party source told sources yesterday the NCwould work for the cause if the king was willing to reduce his status to a ceremonial role.

Mahara said the fate of 569 Maoists who 'disappeared'during the bloody insurgency that began in 1996 and has left at least 12,500 people dead should also be revealed before formal talks start.

Mahara said the rebels would hand over weapons only if the army did the same.

"The People's Liberation Army (the Maoists) is not the problem, the problem is the Royal NepaleseArmy (last week renamed the Nepali army)," said Mahara.

"We want to neutralise both armies. We want a permanent ceasefire, we don't want to go back to fighting," he said.

The government has called on the Maoists to end extortion and intimidation which raises money for their armies before the start of talks. But Mahara claimed the Maoists were running a parallel government across large parts of the countryside and raised money through 'taxation' and 'voluntary donations'.

Mahara has this week been talking by telephone with Krishna Prasad Sitaula, the Home Minister and head of the government's talks team, to try to hasten constituent assembly polls. He says the Maoists want elections within six months.

"We are not coming here to negotiate being weak. We're coming here to be responsible to the aspirations of the people," Mahara said.

"We will never surrender," he said.