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Thousands of former child soldiers held in Nepalese camps for Maoist rebels are due to begin leaving the camps. The children have been confined to the UN-monitored camps with other ex-rebels since a 2006 peace deal that ended a 10-year Maoist insurgency. Their release is a key part of Nepal's peace process. An official ceremony has begun to mark the release of several hundred children at a camp in Sindhuli district, in central Nepal. The former child soldiers are to be given the option of going to school, getting vocational training, or starting businesses. In total, almost 20,000 former Maoist rebels have been living in seven main camps in Nepal. The UN has identified about 3,000 as being under the age of 18. 'Emotional' The government originally said it wanted all the child soldiers to be released by the beginning of November. Gopal Pandey, the deputy commander of a camp in Dudhauli, some 125 miles (200km) south-west of Kathmandu, suggested that the children were upset about the prospect of leaving. "They are all very emotional at having to leave the camps, but they all realise it is something that is necessary to keep the peace process alive," he told the Associated Press news agency. Nepal's rebels were meant to be integrated into the national army as part of the peace process, but the head of the army refused to do so. The Maoists won elections in 2008, but left the government last year in a row over their leader's attempt to fire the army chief. Further information