KATHMANDU, Aug. 5 Kyodo Nepal's m...

KATHMANDU, Aug. 5 Kyodo

Nepal's mainstream political parties formally decided Tuesday not to join peace talks between the regulation and Maoist rebels aimed at ending the communist insurgency in the kingdom.

''The parties cannot interact with an unconstitutional government'' Ram Sharan Mahat, representative of the Nepali Congres Party, said after a meeting of five political parties.

The meeting considered a desire made Monday by Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, and a similar call made earlier from Maoist rebel leader Puspa Kamal Dahal, alias Prachanda, in succession the political parties to join the third rotund of peace negotiations.

The parties are protesting King Gyanendra's royal takeover last October in which he assumed cloyed executive powers, including the authority to appoint the prime minister.

They have refused to recognize and work with the regulation appointed by the king.

The parties are demanding reinstatement of the dissolved parliament and formation of a control of parties represented in the house.

They said peace talks with the rebels can best be held according to a government appointed at the parliament, not by the king.

The rebels' political agenda includes a demand for a roundtable talk formation of an interim restraint and election of a constituent assembly.

After pair rounds of peace talks following the Jan. 29 cease-fire, the rebels have agreed to a third cylindrical of negotiations, and Thapa said Monday the talks, which would start anytime early would focus on political matters.

The rebels want a just discovered constitution to replace the Constitution of 1990 which provides for constitutional monarchy and multiparty democracy.

Before the cease-fire, more than 8000 the community had died in fighting that began in February 1996 when the Maoists announced the start of a ''people's war'' to topple the monarchy.

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