Nepal names negotiator for talks

8216;8216;Other members of the team will be named soon,8217;8217; said Works and Physical Planning Minister Gopal Man Shrestha.

8216;8216;There will also be a separate multi-party party team to assist the government negotiators,8217;8217; he said.

The Maoists, who have been fighting to topple the monarchy and set up a communist state in Nepal, have named their spokesman, Krishna Bahadur Mahara, for the preparatory talks.

Officials said the meeting, the first in nearly three years, would begin soon.

8216;8216;These will be only preliminary talks,8217;8217; Shrestha said. 8216;8216;There will be a higher-level team headed by the prime minister for the talks with Prachanda.8217;8217;

Early this month the government matched a rebel ceasefire and the two sides agreed to meet.