Colombia, FARC in talks to try to save peace process
by Daily Sabah with AFP
IstanbulOct 24, 2016 - 12:00 am GMT+3
by Daily Sabah with AFP
Oct 24, 2016 12:00 am
Colombia's government and Marxist FARC rebels on Saturday started talks on how to retool a peace deal, rejected in a referendum last month, that would end Latin America's longest civil war.
"Meeting of delegates and advisers to Government and FARC in Havana. Starting constructive dialogue. Let's get peace done," the government side said on Twitter. "It's an optimistic atmosphere. Let's get peace," the lead FARC negotiator Timoleon Jimenez (Timochenko) tweeted. The sides are "trying to find common ground," he said.
Santos who has staked his legacy on making peace had extended the army's ceasefire to December 31 if no solution to the impasse is found by then.
The FARC, which had criticized Santos's deadline, has also confirmed its willingness to continue negotiations and maintain a bilateral ceasefire.
The Colombian leader won the Nobel Peace Prize just a few days after voters shot down the historic accord in a referendum that would have ended more than 52 years of conflict.
Since the accord's rejection on October 2, Santos has held marathon talks with political figures including the country's former president Alvaro Uribe who led opposition to the agreement as well as religious leaders and victims of the armed conflict.
Under the peace accord that was rejected in the referendum, the FARC's estimated 7,500 fighters are to disarm under UN supervision. FARC rebels are set to begin disarming and demobilizing, the group reportedly surrendered a list of the 5,765 guerrillas to Colombian military.
Reconciliation process between the President Juan Manuel Santos government and the FARC rebels have engaged in peace talks in Cuba since 2012. Santos' government and FARC announced an agreement to create a new peace tribunal to try those responsible for gross human rights abuses committed during the armed conflict in September 2015. However, abuses and violence has not stopped. Civilians in Colombia have continued to suffer serious abuses perpetrated by rebels. According to the Human Rights Watch, FARC guerrillas engaged in serious abuses, including killings, forced displacement, and threats against civilians in the municipality of Tumaco in 2015.
The FARC is the oldest and largest group among Colombia's left-wing rebels and is one of the world's richest guerrilla armies. The group was founded in 1964, when it declared its intention to overthrow the government and install a Marxist regime. According to the Colombian security forces, there are around 7,000 active militants within the guerilla group. It is estimated that more than 8,500 civilians have given support to the group. However, the number went down gradually, as the number of active militants in 2002 was 20,000. The group was accused by human rights group of forcibly recruiting women and children especially under the age of 15
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