Nepal enters peace talks with Maoist rebels

The Nepalese Government has begun peace talks with the country’s powerful Maoist rebels in the first attempt by both sides to bring an end to five and a half years of insurgency.

A Government delegation met the three leaders of the rebel movement in the resort town of Godhavari, nine miles south of Kathmandu.

The Maoist guerrillas are demanding a new constitution, an end to the country’s feudal structure, the abolition of the figurehead monarchy and the introduction of Maoism, a branch of communism.

More than 1,700 people have died since the rebels began fighting for their cause in 1996.