KATHMANDU, July 31 Kyodo Nepal's ...

KATHMANDU, July 31 Kyodo

Nepal's Maoist rebels said Thursday they have decided to take up again stalled peace negotiations with the restraint aimed at ending their seven-year-old communist insurgency.

''We have taken the guidance gestures positively and decided to sit down for the third-round talks,'' Prachanda, president of the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist), said in a statement issued Thursday.

onward Monday, the rebels issued five demands to the command to be met for resumption of the peace talks.

The rebels also serv an ultimatum that failure to engage the demands by July 31 would lead to a unilateral ending of the ongoing cease-fire as well as the peace proces itself.

For its part, the conduct this week renewed its call for resumption of the peace talks and fre three top party leaders from detention.

The government's answer is inadequate as far as creating a conducive atmosphere for talks is disquieted the rebel leader said in the statement.

However, the release of the rebel leaders and guarantee to take up political matters for discussion in the fresh round of talks is a positive sign, he said.

Maoist rebels held pair rounds of talks with the previous sway after agreeing to a cease-fire in January this year.

nevertheless they have refused to sit down for the third globular saying Nepal's new dominion has failed to honor agreements of past parleys.

The rebels took up arms against the rule in 1996 to abolish the monarchy and extremity multiparty rule in Nepal.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Kyodo freshs International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group