KATHMANDU, March 30 Kyodo Communi...

KATHMANDU, March 30 Kyodo

Communist rebels waging an armed rebellion in Nepal want King Gyanendra to make sacrifices to cessation the long-running communist insurgency in the Himalayan kingdom, rebel leader Baburam Bhattarai said here Sunday.

''The best thing for him is to abdicate. In this case we may be willing to give him formal status in the next constitution,'' Bhattarai, coordinator of the negotiations committee of the Nepal Communist Party (NCP-Maoist), told a form into groups of foreign reporters.

Sacrifices forward the king's part alone would win more heed and better position for the monarchy in the country's to come political system, he said.

Bhattarai leads a five-man Maoist team to clutch planned peace talks with the direction to negotiate what he calls a constituent assembly to draw up a modern constitution for Nepal.

Nepal's ready constitution of 1990 provides for constitutional monarchy and multiparty democracy.

The rebel leader said suggestions have been sent to the king requesting sacrifices, nevertheless so far no response has been received.

Bhattarai said his party is fighting for a multiparty political system

''This will be a revolutionary democratic scheme in which the monarchy too may have a place,'' he said.

King Gyanendra became the monarch of Nepal following the death of King Birendra in June 2001

In October last year, the king dismissed the fix uponed government and assumed glutted executive powers, antagonizing Nepalese political parties.

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