[JURIST] A government official in Nepal [JURIST news archive] said Tuesday that the country's interim constitution [eKantipur highlights; JURIST news archive] will be promulgated by the middle of January when the requisite arms management process outlined in the Nepalese peace plan [JURIST report] begins. Nepal's House of Representatives must first approve the interim constitution, which simultaneously provides for the creation of an interim parliament and the dissolution of the current House.

Last month, Nepalese government negotiators and Maoist rebels reached an agreement [JURIST report] on the 168 articles of the interim constitution to replace Nepal's current constitution [text], following the end of the decade-long Maoist guerilla insurgency against the Nepalese government that left over 13,000 people dead. The interim constitution fails to resolve the status of King Gyanendra [official profile] and the Nepalese monarchy, leaving that task for a new representative body and the drafters of a permanent constitution. PTI News has more.