Nepal Rebels Head to Camps in Peace Deal

Members of the first division of People's Liberation Army (PLA) of the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), clear a bush to set up a camp for locking up their weapons under United Nations monitoring at the headquarters of PLA first division in Kamlajhora village in Jhapa district of eastern Nepal, some 575 Kilometers (359 miles) from Katmandu, Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006. After months of negotiations, Nepal's Maoist rebels reached a landmark agreement with the government last week on the key issues of how to disarm the guerrillas and bring them into an interim government. The two sides had agreed that rebel fighters would be confined to camps and their weapons locked up under United Nations monitoring by Nov. 21. (AP Photo/Tamal Roy) (Tamal Roy - AP)

KATMANDU, Nepal -- Thousands of communist rebel fighters were heading toward camp sites where they are to be confined under U.N. supervision as part of a peace deal, a rebel negotiator said Monday.

Top U.N. officials, however, said they would not be able get their monitors to the proposed sites by the Tuesday deadline.

"Thousands of our fighters are heading toward these designated sites where the camps are to be set up and by Tuesday most of them are expected to reach there," said Dev Gurung, a member of the Maoist rebel peace talks team.

The rebels, who have fought government troops since 1996 to demand a communist state, signed a landmark agreement with the government earlier this month to confine their fighters and weapons in these camps under U.N. supervision by Nov. 21 as part of the peace process.

The agreement said there would be seven main camps and 21 smaller camps where rebels fighters would be held until crucial elections are held next year.

Ian Martin, the U.N. secretary general's representative in Nepal, said they were not in a position to get their monitors to these sites by Tuesday. Martin said he was not sure how long the whole process would take before U.N. monitors are actually stationed on these camps.

"We have to have a complete agreement before we can put into place full United Nations monitoring arrangements," Martin said.

The rebels and government already missed the first deadline last week when they were scheduled to sign a formal peace accord. The accord is expected to be signed this week, marking the end of the 10-year-old conflict that has claimed more than 13,000 lives.

A cease-fire was declared and peace talks began in April. The rebels are to join an interim parliament by Nov. 26. An interim government including the rebels is to be in place by Dec. 1.