  We develop protocols for preparing a GHZ state and, in general,a pure
multi-partite maximally entangled state in a distributed network with apriori
quantum entanglement between agents using classical communication and local
operations. We investigate and characterize the minimal combinatorics of the
sharing of EPR pairs required amongst agents in a network for the creation of
multi-partite entanglement. We also characterize the minimal combinatorics of
agents in the creation of pure maximal multi-partite entanglement amongst the
set $N$ of $n$ agents in a network using apriori multi-partite entanglement
states amongst subsets of $N$. We propose protocols for establishing
multi-partite entanglement in the above cases.
