Arms remain sticking point in Nepal talks

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and leaders of the ruling seven-party alliance met Maoist chief Prachanda on Sunday, their first meeting in nearly four months, in a bid to rescue a peace process which had been in danger of stalling.

Both sides said the meeting was "highly positive" and they are due to meet again on Tuesday.

The government and rebels have observed a ceasefire since May to bring a halt to a decade-old insurgency in which around 13,000 people have been killed.

The government has offered to bring the rebels into an interim administration and agreed to a central rebel demand -- that elections should be held for a special assembly to prepare a new constitution and decide the future of the monarchy.

On Sunday, the two sides agreed that those elections should be held by June 2007, said rebel negotiator Baburam Bhattarai, the number two to Prachanda.

"Except this, there was no consensus on the main political agenda including the arms," Bhattarai told Reuters.

The Maoists see the constituent assembly elections as a mechanism to achieve their long-standing goal -- the abolition of the monarchy and establishment of a republic.