Tuesday, June 27 2006 15:48 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Kathmandu: Maoists are willing to manage their arms under the UN supervision but not ready to lay them down at this point, top rebel leaders have conveyed to key members of Nepal's ruling alliance.

As the interim government formation process in the country gathered steam, Maoist supremo Prachanda and another senior rebel leader Baburam Bhattarai held parleys with top leaders of the seven-party alliance.

"During the talks between the two sides, the rebels expressed their willingness to manage their arms under the UN supervision, but made it clear that they were were not ready to lay them down at this point," political sources said.

Key alliance members, on their part, asked the rebels to manage their weapons besides returning all properties they confiscated forcibly from various people in a single declaration.

Prachanda met Nepali Congress (Democratic) President and former Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba at the latter's residence in Budhanilkantha this morning and discussed matters relating to formation of the interim government and holding of the Constituent Assembly election.

Deuba asked the rebels to manage their weapons before joining the government and urged them to return the properties they confiscated forcibly from people, Bimalendra Nidhi, General Secretary of NC (Democratic) said.

The differences of opinion among the seven major parties on the eight-point agreement reached between the rebels and the govenemnt during the talks between Prime Minster Girija Prasad Koirala and Prachanda also came up for discussion.

"Deuba told Prachanda that the seven parties undoubtedly supported the agreement and the differences were only procedural," Nidhi said.

The rebel leader and Bhattarai also held parleys with Nepal Sadbhavana Party (NSP) acting President Bharat Bimal Yadav and the party's General Secretary Rajendra Mahato yesterday as part of the interim government formation process.

In a meeting with United Left Front leader Bishnu Bahadur Manandhar and other senior political leaders, Prachanda expressed the rebels' commitment to the agreement signed with Koirala and discussed ways to foster better understanding between the parties and the Maoists, CPN-UML leader Bohara told sources.

"The Maoist chief also tried to clear all suspicion that the political parties apparently have regarding the rebels' intention and actions," he said.

The rebel leaders also met CPN-UML leader Madhav Kumar Nepal and senior politburo member Amrit Bohara on Sunday and discussed threadbare the modalities to be adopted to manage the arms, said NSP acting president Bharat Bimal Yadav.

"The Maoists are desirous to manage their arms under the UN supervision while joining the government but they are not ready to lay down arms at the moment," he said.

Koirala and Prachanda on June 16 had decided to invite the UN for managing weapons and armies of the state and the Maoists and had also agreed to forming an interim government with the inclusion of the rebels after dissolving Parliament.