Fourth round of summit talks get underway

The crucial fourth round of summit talks between the ruling seven-party alliance (SPA) and the Maoists started at Prime Minister GP Koirala’s official residence in Baluwatar from 3:15 p.m. Sunday.

Top SPA leaders including Prime Minister Koirala, CPN (UML) general secretary Madhav Kumar Nepal, Nepali Congress (Democratic) president Sher Bahadur Deuba and Maoist chairman Prachanda, Maoist No. 2 Dr Baburam Bhattarai and members of the talks teams of the government and the Maoists are participating in the meeting.

As the leaders entered the talks venue, activists of various pressure groups chanted slogans demanding concrete decisions from the summit meeting. Members of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Nepal Police have been deployed for security around Baluwatar area.

Today’s meeting is expected to come up with some breakthrough as the leaders of SPA and the Maoists said they were close to a consensus on contentious issues like the fate of monarchy, arms management, interim government and interim legislature.

Earlier in the morning, SPA leaders engaged in discussion on the talks agendas. Senior Maoist leader Bhattarai met with chief government negotiator Krishna Prasad Sitaula and discussed the political issues in the morning.

The third round of talks ended inconclusively as the two sides failed to arrive at a consensus on the issue of monarchy and arms management.

Thursday’s meeting was postponed as the leaders agreed that there is a need for more homework to resolve these issues. The meeting ended after Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala presented his three-point proposal to “end the deadlock”.

The central committee meeting of the Maoists yesterday gave five-point options to the SPA as part of settling the arms management issue.

PM Koirala, however, said that the Maoist proposal was not acceptable. Maoists have warned that they will go for street protests if the NC led by Koirala did not change its position on monarchy.

The peace talks could not reach into conclusion in previous rounds as the ruling SPA said that the fate of monarchy should be decided by referendum and the Maoist arms should be managed before the election to constituent assembly while the Maoists remained firm that the monarchy should be abolished from interim constitution itself and their arms be managed after the CA polls. nepalnews.com pb Oct 15 06

Related News
- Summit meeting today, talks at difficult crossroads