KATHMANDU - Nepal's Maoist forces began putting their weapons under United Nations supervision, a key part of a peace deal in the Himalayan country, a Maoist leader said.
"(The) UN and our team has begun the verification process of our People's Liberation Army and their weapons," said Samthing Buddha, a Maoist division commander from Chitwan, where registration began Wednesday at midday.

The former rebels will hand over their weapons for UN inspection and recording, and then each Maoist will place his weapon in a container in a UN enclosure, an official from the world body said.

"It is not surrender of weapons -- it's the Maoists storing the weapons in UN containers," the UN official said.

The Maoists at the camp some 200 kilometres (120 miles) southwest of the capital Kathmandu have not allowed the media to observe the handover.

During this first phase of registration, 1,000 of the 6,500 Maoist soldiers in the camp will have their weapons verified, Buddha said.

As part of the peace deal that saw Maoist MPs sworn in earlier this week, the rebels will keep a key to the locked-up weapons.

One hundred and eleven ex-Gurkhas will be monitoring the 28 camps in seven different areas before the full UN contingent arrives.

The rebels claim to have 35,000 soldiers in their "People's Liberation Army," but independent estimates put their numbers at closer to 12,000.

Apart from those needed to protect Maoist camps and leaders, the rebels are to place all weapons in the containers that will be monitored by the UN.

Under the peace deal reached late last year, the Nepal Army is due to be confined to its barracks and put the same number of weapons as the Maoists under UN supervision.

Once bitter foes, the Maoists formally entered a new parliament with the seven main political parties late Monday after a new temporary constitution was approved.

King Gyanendra was stripped of his status as head of state and lost control of the army.

Eighty-three Maoist members of parliament were sworn in to the 330-seat house nearly nine months after the Maoists and the government struck a ceasefire deal.

Nepal's previous parliament was dissolved Monday. King Gyanendra restored the legislature after weeks of bloody mass protests forced him to abandon direct rule in April 2006.

In 2002, the king sacked the prime minister and replaced him with a series of royally-appointed premiers. He sacked the whole government in February 2005 and took direct control, saying politicians had failed to defeat the Maoists.

The interim constitution sets out a plan to hold elections to a constituent assembly that will rewrite Nepal's constitution permanently and decide the monarch's fate.

The Maoists want the monarchy abolished, but some parties want it to have a ceremonial role.