Peace talks in Nepal aimed at ending the decade-long Maoist insurgency have broken up after the two sides were unable to bridge key differences, BBC Online reports Sunday.
The fourth round of meetings in a week between the government and the rebels again stalled on the issue of rebel disarmament and the monarchys future.
Both sides said they would meet again but no date was set for fresh talks. The Maoists have warned that if the talks fail, they will launch massive street protests.
Sundays meeting between Prime Minister GP Koirala and the rebels leader, known as Prachanda, lasted about half an hour. Before Sundays talks, the two sides had said they were close to a breakthrough.
On Tuesday, they agreed that by June next year there will be elections to a special assembly which will write a new constitution.
A truce (våbenhvile) has been in place since April after a popular uprising forced King Gyanendra to end his direct rule and hand power to a multi-party government.
The rebels, who backed the anti-king protests, subsequently entered into peace talks to end the conflict that has left 13.000 people dead.
