Nepal to name team for talks with rebels

"The Maoists have sent us a 22-point code of conduct for talks and most of the points are positive," the senior official, a member of the newly named cabinet, told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The government will "form a committee which will not be more than seven people by the end of this week," the official said.

The interim multi-party government was appointed late last month after weeks of mass protests crippled Nepal and forced King Gyanendra to hand back power to parliament.

Late last week the government began clearing out all the king's men, recalling ambassadors and accepting the resignation of dozens of royally appointed officials.

The reversals of royal rule continued Tuesday with at least six ordinances brought into effect during Gyanendra's rule annulled, a cabinet member said.

"Ordinances including the one which was intended to curtail press freedom and another about non-government organizations have been scrapped," Finance Minister Ram Sharan Mahat told AFP after a cabinet meeting Tuesday night.

The multi-party government has matched a ceasefire declared by the rebel Maoists and agreed to a key rebel demand -- for an election to form a body to redraft the constitution and decide the future of the monarchy.

Once enemies, the rebels and seven mainstream political parties formed a loose alliance to restore democracy in late 2005 and have both claimed responsibility for the mass movement that forced Gyanendra's climbdown.

At least 12,500 people have been killed since the Maoists began their "people's war" in 1996 to install a communist republic.