After over five-hour-long marathon talks, members of the Nepali government and guerrillas negotiation teams agreed to a 25-point code of conduct late Friday to be observed by both sides during the period of cease-fire.

Under the code of conduct, both parties would cease all types of military activities during the period of cease-fire.

They have also agreed not to call general strike or transport strike during the cease-fire period. However, rallies and meetings could be organized peacefully. Similarly, both sides have agreed not to create any obstructions in the movement of medicines, food, construction materials meant for development programs and goods for daily consumption.

The code of conduct said that no donations would be collected, whether cash or kind, through coercion.

Both sides have agreed to make public whereabouts of " disappeared people," to help displaced people to return to their villages and release the detainees gradually.

They have also agreed to involve national and international teams in the monitoring of cease-fire "on the basis of mutual consensus." The agreement, however, did not specifically mention whether the international monitor would be the United Nations or any other international agency.

The code of conduct, which came into force from Friday, may be amended on the basis of mutual consensus.

Home Minister and head of the government negotiation team Krishna Prashad Sitaula and coordinator of the guerrillas negotiation team Krishna Bahadur Mahara signed the code of conduct.

"We don't want to return to war again," Mahara said after the dialogue.

"We want there to be no bloodshed and civil war," Mahara said, adding, "We have decided to sit at the negotiation table with deep sense of responsibility toward people."

Sitaula told reporters that since both teams "had already set their goals," they concentrated on how to achieve that during Friday's talks. "We have agreed that all problems faced by the country can be settled through mutual understanding and dialogue among us," he added.

This is the third time that the guerrillas and the government have sat for dialogue. They held talks for the first time in August 2001 since the guerrillas launched a violent rebellion in 1996. However, surprise and simultaneous attacks by the guerrillas on various government facilities in November ended the cease-fire that was in place for over four months with three rounds of negotiations.

The government and the guerrillas inked a similar truce in January 2003, days after the rebels assassinated Krishna Mohan Shrestha, chief of the Armed Police Force, along with his wife and bodyguard in Kathmandu. The truce met a deadlock after four rounds of negotiations in August after the then Royal Nepalese Army (RNA) gunned down 17 unarmed guerrillas and two civilians in Doramba area of central Ramechhap district, some 100 km east of Kathmandu.

The main stumbling block during the last negotiations was the issue of going for constituent assembly elections, which the then government flatly rejected.

However, the 12-point understanding reached between the ruling Seven-Party Alliance (SPA) and guerrillas in November last year, which has clearly stated constituent assembly elections as the only way out of the current crisis, has brought hope for making the fresh round of negotiations a success.

Guerrillas Supremo Prachanda has said he would eventually lead the rebel negotiating team after preparatory negotiations are held with the current teams.

At the end of Friday's negotiations, the negotiators said they are meeting again "soon" to settle remaining issues required for holding constituent assembly elections without any hindrance.

Over 13,000 Nepalese people have been killed since the anti- government insurgency began in the Himalayan kingdom in February 1996.

Source: Xinhua