AP and AFP report from Kathmandu Nepal's Maoist rebels will begin disarming and join an interim parliament on Monday as part of a peace process to end years of bloody conflict.
The agreement was reached last night during a meeting between Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, Maoist rebel Prachanda and leaders of the seven ruling parties in Kathmandu.
"The top leaders of the seven parties and the Maoists on Monday reached an understanding to pass the interim constitution on January 15," said Pradeep Gyawali, Minister for Tourism and a peace negotiator.
Rebel spokesman Krishna Bahadur Mahara said the existing parliament would be dissolved on Monday and immediately be superseded by an interim legislature, which would include 73 seats for Maoist rebels.
On the same day, the rebels would begin handing over their weapons at seven main camps set up to lock up their arms and confine thousands of their fighters under UN supervision.
"The process of locking up our weapons under UN monitoring will begin on the same day we join the interim parliament," Mr Mahara said.
Nepal's Maoists last week said the Government had endangered a power-sharing pact and elections by not sending an interim constitution agreed almost a month ago for parliamentary approval.
The power-sharing pact followed mass protests in April last year that led King Gyanendra to return power to parliament after 14 months of direct rule. The rebels and the new parliament subsequently agreed to a ceasefire, a political process leading to elections by June this year and a constituent assembly that will rewrite the constitution and decide the monarchy's fate.
Under the peace deal, agreed last November, the Government has agreed to let the Maoists have 73 seats in a new 330-seat parliament in return for placing their arms and armies in camps under UN supervision.
Thirteen UN arms monitors have arrived in Nepal and will operate in two teams, one from Kathmandu and the other from Nepalgunj, 510km west of the capital.
The UN said on Sunday it was ready to start registration of Maoist and government weapons from next week as part of the deal to end Nepal's decade-long civil war, which claimed at least 12,500 lives.
The monitors are expected to eventually spread to the seven guerilla camps across the country.
There are 21 rebel camps in total, but the weapons are to be kept at the seven main camps where they can be monitored by the UN.
The UN's chief official in Nepal, Ian Martin, was to fly to New York overnight to brief the UN Security Council, which is expected to approve a full mission to Nepal to assist in the peace process.
