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Nepal moving closer to peace?

KATHMANDU, Nepal, Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Maoist rebels said they were close to a deal with the Nepalese government that paves the way to a new government before summer.

Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a former guerrilla leader and chairman of the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) who goes by the name Prachanda, suggested his party reached an agreement with the government to move a peace process forward, al-Jazeera reports.

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Maoists will join rival parties in a six-member committee that will be established to find a way to usher in a new government for Nepal.

Nepalese leaders have tried several times to elect a new prime minster after Madhav Kumar Nepal stepped down in June.

The mandate for the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Nepal expired Friday to help secure a peace agreement ending a war that left 13,000 people dead.

The U.N. envoy to Nepal urged parties involved in the peace process to reach consensus for monitoring arms and armed forces.

P.J. Crowley, a spokesman for the U.S. State Department, said Robert Blake, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for South Asia, spoke with the former prime minister and the Maoist leader on securing the peace process.

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"He concluded by saying that the people of Nepal look to their political leadership to bring the peace process to a much needed conclusion," the spokesman said.

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