Nepal's multi-party government and leftist rebels will sign a permanent ceasefire deal as part of a comprehensive peace accord on Thursday, the chief of the state's peace committee said Sunday.

Hopes of peace have grown in the Himalayan nation since the two sides signed a temporary truce in April following King Gyanendra relinquishing power after mass street protests.

The government and rebels also signed a power-sharing pact last week in which the leftists will place their weapons under UN supervision and join an interim administration by December 1.

Both sides are under intense public pressure to turn this positive movement into lasting peace, ending a decade-long insurgency to topple the monarchy. The conflict has killed over 13,000 people.

"The ceasefire agreement will be part of a comprehensive national peace accord due to be signed by Prime Minister (Girija Prasad Koirala) and (leftist chief) Prachanda on Thursday," said Ram Chandra Poudel, co-ordinator of the state's peace committee, which liaises and handles the peace process.

"It will turn the present situation of temporary truce into a permanent ceasefire," he said.

He said the accord would include a human rights agreement, and spell out arms monitoring details.

On Saturday, the United Nations urged the government and leftist guerrillas to start focusing on protecting human rights following last week's power-sharing agreement.

Under that pact, the leftists agreed to confine the 35,000-strong rebel army to 28 camps and place their weapons under the UN supervision.

In return, they will be awarded 73 seats in the planned 330-member parliament under the December 1 interim administration.

The army will also be barracked and an equal number of their arms stored.

Officials said sites for camps to house the guerrillas were being identified jointly by the United Nations, the government and the rebels.

The UN team and representatives from the government, leftist rebels, police and the army flew to the mountainous areas just northeast of the capital, Katmandu, Sunday.

The team flew to Illam nestled in Nepal's eastern mountains on Saturday for the survey.

Poudel said extortion, kidnapping and intimidation that had been ignored by authorities so far would not be spared. Political parties and human rights groups have accused the leftists of extorting money and kidnapping people, despite the truce. The rebels countered saying they only collected voluntary donations.

(China Daily November 13, 2006)