Kathmandu, July 12: Representatives of Nepal's government and Maoist rebels met for more than three hours overnight in a bid to resolve disputes holding up negotiations to end the seven-year conflict, a participant said today. Finance Minister Prakash Chandra Lohani said that the government expressed willingness to free several prominent prisoners while the Maoists will review demands that the movement of soldiers be tightly restricted.


"The meeting concluded after an agreement to meet shortly for the formal third round of talks and a note of optimism to resolve many of the pending issues put forward by the Maoists," Lohani told news agencies.


He said that the two sides discussed ways to end a hunger strike by jailed senior Maoist leader Rabindra Shrestha, who has refused to eat since June 30 as he presses the Maoists' key demands.

Lohani said that the government agreed in principle to release Shrestha and other jailed members of the Maoists' Central Committee and to double the allowance of each prisoner to 30 rupees.
But he said that the government would not look at Shrestha's key demands -- such as elections for a "constituent assembly" that would redraft the Constitution --as those could be considered only in formal negotiations.

Lohani and information minister Kamal Thapa took part in the "informal" talks late Friday in Kathmandu with Maoist leaders Krishna Bahadur Mahara and Ram Bahadur Thapa.

Bureau Report