Updated on Thursday, June 22, 2006, 00:00 IST

Kathmandu, June 22: Clearing doubts on whether they would lay down arms, a senior Maoist leader has said the rebels were ready to manage their weapons under UN supervision even as Nepal government promised to bear the expenses of some 10,000 cadre once they go back to barracks.

Assuring that the CPN-Maoist was ready to manage their arms under UN supervision before joining an interim government that would hold the Constitutional assembly polls, Dinanath Sharma, a member of the rebel peace talks team, said, "If the management of weapons is the only hurdle on talks, I don't think that the peace process would break."

The eight-point agreement reached between government and Maoists after talks between Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and Maoist chief Prachanda was "historic and remarkable," he told an interaction programme here yesterday.

Separately, Home Minister and government's chief negotiator Krishna Sitoula said government and Maoists have agreed to send a letter to the UN for arms monitoring.

He also said the government can bear the expenses of the Maoists' 10,000 plus 'People's Liberation Army' during arms monitoring by the UN.

"We are preparing to send a request to the UN for arms monitoring and after that government can consider feeding the Maoists in barracks," he told reporters in Pokhara yesterday.

Noting that the eight-point agreement was based on a 12-point understanding they had made last November before launching a joint agitation against King Gyanendra's absolute rule, he said the pact would draw the roadmap of new Nepal by settling the decade-long conflict.

Bureau Report