Talks between Nepali gov't and guerrillas end without concrete results

Nepal's ruling Seven Party Alliance (SPA) and the guerrillas have failed to reach any concrete agreement on key political and arms management issues in a meeting, local media reported on Thursday.

"We discussed all issues that have risen during the ongoing peace talks but have not reached any concrete understanding," senior guerrilla leader Baburam Bhattarai was quoted by Annapurna Post, a leading Nepali-language daily as saying.

"It is only preliminary talks," he said after the talks that lasted for about five hours on Wednesday.

Bhattarai was reportedly to have told the SPA leaders that the guerrillas were not in favor of ceremonial king but they were ready to manage their arms as per five-point agreement that was sent to the United Nations.

As per five-point agreement, the guerrillas will confine their arms and armies in certain cantonments and the UN civilian personnel would monitor them.

However, NC General Secretary Ram Chandra Paudyal told the press that they were close to an agreement on all issues including the interim constitution, parliament and government as well as the arms management.

Three main parties including Nepali Congress (NC), NC ( Democratic) and Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist) were involved in the talks that were aimed at facilitating the summit talks to be held on October 8.

Source: Xinhua