Last week the seven parties had cautiously welcomed the Maoist offer of talks to establish an alliance to challenge a royal power grab. But in a statement, they called on the rebels to lay down arms before any negotiations and show a commitment to multi-party democracy.

In a notice published on the Maoist website Thursday, the party's leader Prachanda said he welcomed last week's alliance statement as a positive step to create a united opposition to King Gyanendra, who sacked the government and seized power in February.

"Our party regards the press statement of the seven political parties waging a movement against the monarchy as a positive step forward in creating an extensive political front," Prachanda said.

"We are confident that the technical and practical problems could be solved by a joint movement," he added.

Gyanendra said he seized power from a four-party coalition government because it had failed to tackle the Maoist rebellion which has claimed around 12,000 lives since 1996.

The United States, India and Britain have condemned the takeover and urged the king to restore democracy and free political prisoners.

On Wednesday the United States said this week's jailing of former prime minister Sher Bahadur Deuba for alleged corruption in a government contract was another setback to democracy in the kingdom.

Prachanda also said the rebels would work with the parties to establish a framework for democratic cooperation, though he said nothing about halting the rebellion.