KATHMANDU (AFP) -- Nepal's new government took a tentative step toward peace with the Maoist rebels on Friday after the militants agreed to take part in talks to end their decade-old insurgency.

The rebels said they had given the new Cabinet a "code of conduct" outlining the rules they want to see followed in the wake of ceasefires declared by the Maoists and the government in the Himalayan kingdom.

"We are studying the Maoist code of conduct. Once the government reaches an agreement a committee will be formed to begin dialogue," Ram Sharan Mahat, finance minister told AFP Friday.

The minister gave no indication of when peace talks might begin.

After three weeks of mass protests by seven opposition parties in concert with rebel Maoists, Nepal's King Gyanendra finally handed back power to Parliament last week, after ruling the country directly for 14 months.

Gyanendra sacked the government in February 2005, saying that they were corrupt and had failed to stem a bloody Maoist insurgency that has claimed 12,500 lives in the impoverished Himalayan nation.

Once bitter enemies, the ousted political parties formed a loose alliance with the rebels last November, isolating Gyanendra -- the world's sole Hindu monarch.

A new Cabinet was appointed Tuesday but squabbling has already begun in the alliance of political parties.

A senior leader from Nepal's second largest party, the Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist-Leninist), told AFP that the new government should be scrapped after the first round of talks and then reformed to include the rebels.

"This present government should be dissolved and an interim government set up that includes Maoists before the constituent assembly. This is in our seven party alliance road map," said the party's Jhalanath Khanal.

On Wednesday, the newly reinstated government called a ceasefire, matching an earlier one called by the rebels and urged the Maoists to enter peace talks.

The rebels welcomed the move and agreed to join peace talks. Their demand for the election of a constituent assembly to draft a new constitution was met by the new government.

The new constitution is expected to clip the powers of the king and sever his control of the 90,000 strong Royal Nepalese Army (RNA).

The rebel leader said that he was willing to have the People's Liberation Army integrated with the RNA to form a new national army under civilian control. "We are entering into a dialogue process, feeling deep responsibility for people's aspirations toward democracy and peace," said the rebel chief Prachanda, or "the fierce one." "We hope that the peace talks will not fail this time."

It is the third time that the government and rebels have called ceasefires at the same time and tried to start peace talks, but on previous occasions negotiations broke down and the country plunged back into conflict.