KATMANDU, Nepal -- The government and Maoist rebels signed a peace deal Tuesday to end a 10-year insurgency, marking the start of a hopeful but uncertain political era in this Himalayan nation, the world's last Hindu monarchy.

Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala and rebel leader Prachanda signed the accord at a Katmandu convention hall.

"This ends the more than one decade of civil war in the country," said Prachanda, who goes by a single name. "We will now turn to a campaign of peace."

During the war, the Maoists took control of wide swaths of the country, for decades a magnet for mountain climbers and Westerners in search of Eastern spirituality.