KATMANDU, Nepal - A planned peacemaking meeting this week between leaders of NepalÂ’s communist rebels and the ruling political alliance will likely be postponed, further delaying attempts to end a decade-old conflict, officials said on Thursday.The already-delayed meeting - between Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala, top leaders of the seven-party ruling alliance and Maoist rebel leaders Baburam Bhattarai and Prachanda - had been scheduled for Friday. However, the meeting was likely to be postponed again because the government side has not been able to complete preparations it, said government Minister Ramesh Lekhak, a member of the government peace negotiating team.
The first such meeting was held on June 16, when the leaders decided that within a month an interim constitution would be written and put in place, along with an interim government that would include the rebels. However, there has been little progress in drafting the interim constitution, and no development in the rebels joining an interim government.
Instead, differences are widening between the two sides, who have been blaming each other for the delay in the peace process aimed at ending more than a decade of deadly communist insurgency in the impoverished Himalayan country.
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