Assisted by the UN and its partner agencies, Nepal's former Maoist guerrillas Monday finally released the last of the child soldiers they had recruited in the course of their 10-year war to overthrow the royal dynasty.

The discharge of nearly 3,000 child soldiers and other illegally recruited combatants ended Monday in Rolpa, the remote western district that had been the cradle of the Maoist insurgency, with a farewell ceremony attended by Maoist chief Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda, top Maoist leaders and UN officials as well as EU envoys.

The discharge process started Jan 7 and ended Monday after covering seven cantonments where the Maoists' Peoples Liberation Army soldiers have been barracked since the end of the revolt in 2006.

"You who are now leaving the cantonments are no longer in the Maoist army chain of command," said Karin Landgren, chief of the UN Mission in Nepal that has been supervising the PLA cantonments. "The period of your life dedicated to armed struggle is now in the past. You have a role in helping make Nepal a country that is just, equitable, democratic and peaceful."

The UN, donors and the government are offering rehabilitation packages for the discharged soldiers, many of whom feel let down and were close to tears.1