Colombia government, ELN rebels to resume peace talks
Colombia's government and the country's last active rebel force, the ELN, will resume peace talks in just over a week, the lead state negotiator confirmed Saturday.
The return to the table was meant to have happened last Wednesday but was put off because of an information-sharing meeting in Cuba between the ELN and the bigger leftist rebel group, the FARC, which has already struck an accord with the government.
"Ecuador has generously hosted the peace talks between the Colombian government and the ELN, which will resume on May 16," Juan Camilo Restrepo said on Twitter.
A visit to Colombia by Ecuador's president-elect, Lenin Moreno, to take place Monday also pushed back the resumption of talks.
Restrepo said Moreno "will keep supporting the talks looking for peace in Colombia" as his outgoing predecessor Rafael Correa did.
The Colombian conflict erupted in 1964 and drew in various rebel and paramilitary groups and gangs as well as state forces. The National Liberation Army (ELN) launched its peace negotiations in February. It has an estimated 1,500 fighters, compared with the FARC's 7,000.
In November, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed their peace deal with the government after four years of talks. Colombia court ordered last Friday the release of first general under peace deal, the first case involving a top official to be reviewed by a court system set up by the government's peace deal with the FARC.
The general had been serving 37 years for colluding with a right-wing paramilitary force that killed at least 49 suspected guerrilla sympathizers in the village of Mapiripan in July 1997.
Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said Friday that 20 members of the security forces have already been freed and that judges have a list of 900 more set for release under the peace deal's framework.
As part of the agreement, courts in February also began amnestying rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who had been sentenced only for minor crimes.
Colombia's conflict -- which also involved other guerrilla groups, right-wing paramilitaries and government forces -- killed some 260,000 people while 60,000 have vanished, and 6.9 million been displaced within the country.
The return to the table was meant to have happened last Wednesday but was put off because of an information-sharing meeting in Cuba between the ELN and the bigger leftist rebel group, the FARC, which has already struck an accord with the government.
"Ecuador has generously hosted the peace talks between the Colombian government and the ELN, which will resume on May 16," Juan Camilo Restrepo said on Twitter.
A visit to Colombia by Ecuador's president-elect, Lenin Moreno, to take place Monday also pushed back the resumption of talks.
Restrepo said Moreno "will keep supporting the talks looking for peace in Colombia" as his outgoing predecessor Rafael Correa did.
The Colombian conflict erupted in 1964 and drew in various rebel and paramilitary groups and gangs as well as state forces. The National Liberation Army (ELN) launched its peace negotiations in February. It has an estimated 1,500 fighters, compared with the FARC's 7,000.
In November, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed their peace deal with the government after four years of talks. Colombia court ordered last Friday the release of first general under peace deal, the first case involving a top official to be reviewed by a court system set up by the government's peace deal with the FARC.
The general had been serving 37 years for colluding with a right-wing paramilitary force that killed at least 49 suspected guerrilla sympathizers in the village of Mapiripan in July 1997.
Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said Friday that 20 members of the security forces have already been freed and that judges have a list of 900 more set for release under the peace deal's framework.
As part of the agreement, courts in February also began amnestying rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) who had been sentenced only for minor crimes.
Colombia's conflict -- which also involved other guerrilla groups, right-wing paramilitaries and government forces -- killed some 260,000 people while 60,000 have vanished, and 6.9 million been displaced within the country.