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KATHMANDU, Wednesday (AFP) Nepal's government and Maoist rebels insisted they were committed to peace talks even as they were at loggerheads over what had already been agreed to in earlier negotiations.

Since their last meeting May 9, Nepal has had a change of government, while both sides have reported a number of violations of their five-month truce.

Prime Minister Surya Bahadur Thapa, also searching for a truce with mainstream parties opposed to his royal-appointed government, said a third round of talks would be held soon but has not set a date.

Thapa, appointed June 4, told AFP in an interview he wanted negotiations, not violence, to resolve disputes with the Maoists.

"There is nothing which could not be resolved through dialogue. One should reach the middle path to reach an agreement if any difficult issues crop up," Thapa said.

Maoist supremo Pushpa Kamal Dahal accused the government of neglecting the process and the army of provocations even as the Maoists were making good-faith efforts towards peace.

"The army has tried to derail the process by carrying out various provocative activities with ulterior motives," said Dahal, better known as Prachanda, or "The Fierce."

"The Maoists are still committed to bring ongoing peace talks to their logical end despite such activities by the army."

Prachanda, who has appealed for mainstream parties to help the rebels organize a new round of peace talks, said the new government needed to show its goodwill by immediately releasing jailed Maoists and revealing the fate of those rebels who have disappeared during the insurgency.

One of the most contentious issues is a Maoist demand that the army - first deployed in November 2001 after the collapse of the last ceasefire - be restricted to movements only within five kilometers (three miles) of their barracks.

The Maoists said the government agreed to confine troops during the last round of talks, but Information Minister Kamal Thapa said the issue needs to be revisited.

"Misunderstanding regarding the decision reached in the second round of peace talks should be resolved at the negotiation table itself," Kamal Thapa told state television. A previous truce in 2001 lasted four months until talks broke down and the Maoists unleashed a flurry of attacks on security forces and government installations around the kingdom.

While peace has largely prevailed since the latest ceasefire was imposed January 29, the number of reported truce violations has been on the rise.

One Maoist was killed in a June 25 confrontation with troops in eastern Nepal, a week after seven Maoists and civilian were reported dead in a stand-off between rebels and an army-led humanitarian team in a western village.

An educators union said Friday that nine teachers had been killed by the Maoists under the truce.

Teachers were frequent rebel targets in the bloodiest months of the insurgency, accused of spreading the ideology of the Kathmandu elite.

And in a clear warning to the Maoists last week, the home ministry warned of punishment for any person or group engaged in extortion, after reporting complaints from a number of people recently "terrorized" by demands for money.

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