KATHMANDU: The chief negotiator for Nepal’s rebel Maoists said on Tuesday there would be no early handover of weapons and set the stage for further political clashes over the role of the monarchy.

Krishna Bahadur Mahara said the Maoists did not want to return to violence after calling a temporary ceasefire in their decade-long insurgency, amid tentative peace moves with the newly-formed interim government.

But he flatly refused to say what the Maoists would do if Nepal’s monarch were given even a ceremonial role in a planned new constitution due to be thrashed out at an unspecified date.

King Gyanendra ended 14 months of absolute rule in the face of mass anti-monarchy protests in April and was forced to recall parliament after a four-year break.

The legislature immediately demanded elections to a body to write a new constitution which could abolish the 250-year-old monarchy or reduce it to a ceremonial role.

“We won’t be giving up arms to the government before the constituent assembly elections,” said Mahara in an interview with AFP at a secret location in Kathmandu. “We will keep our arms, otherwise it will demoralise our army.”

Mahara arrived on Sunday for discussions over the elections but said no formal talks would begin with the government until an estimated 1,200-1,300 Maoist detainees are released.

Mahara said the Maoists would abide by the decisions of the constituent assembly but repeatedly declined to say what would happen if the king was given any future role.

“That will be decided in the future when the result comes,” said Mahara. “We are totally against any role for the king, either an active king or ceremonial monarchy. We are very clear on this.”

The new parliament last week slashed the powers of the king over the army and political life and removed the word “royal” from many of Nepal’s institutions.

But Mahara said the move did not go far enough as the king remained sitting in his palace.

His stance sets the rebels against the party of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, the Nepali Congress (NC).

A high-level party source told AFP the NC would “work for the cause” if the king was willing to reduce his status to a ceremonial role.

Mahara said the fate of 569 Maoists who “disappeared” during the bloody insurgency that began in 1996 and has left at least 12,500 people dead should also be revealed before formal talks start.

The rebels and the army and police have been accused of repeated human rights violations including torture and rape. Mahara said the rebels would hand over weapons only if the army did the same.

“The People’s Liberation Army (the Maoists) is not the problem, the problem is the Royal Nepalese Army (last week renamed the Nepali army),” said Mahara. “We want to neutralise both armies.

“We want a permanent ceasefire, we don’t want to go back to fighting.”

The government has called on the Maoists to end extortion and intimidation which raises money for their armies before the start of talks.

But Mahara claimed the Maoists were running a parallel government across large parts of the countryside and raised money through “taxation” and “voluntary donations”.

The Maoists have a key role in Nepal after allying with a seven-party coalition last year to tackle Gyanendra. He seized power in February 2005, claiming the government was corrupt and had failed to tackle the rebellion.

The Maoists and the parties brought thousands on to the streets for anti-monarchy demonstrations that left at least 19 protesters dead and forced the king to climb down.

In the first weeks of the new parliament, the government removed the terrorist tag from the Maoists, called for peace talks and agreed to push for the rebels’ key demand of a new constitution.

The Maoists responded by calling a three-month ceasefire, matched by the government.

Mahara has this week been talking by telephone with Krishna Prasad Sitaula, the Home Minister and head of the government’s talks team, to try to hasten constituent assembly elections. He says the Maoists want elections within six months.

“We are not coming here to negotiate being weak. We’re coming here to be responsible to the aspirations of the people,” Mahara said. “We will never surrender.”—AFP