Colombia backtracks on ceasefire announcement with ELN rebels

Authorities’s about-face comes after left-wing rebels mentioned that they had not mentioned a truce with Bogota.

The Colombian authorities has backtracked on an announcement that it had reached a ceasefire with one of many nation’s largest remaining armed teams, a day after Nationwide Liberation Military (ELN) rebels mentioned they weren’t a part of any such deal.

President Gustavo Petro had declared on New Yr’s Eve {that a} non permanent truce had been agreed with the nation’s 5 largest armed teams, together with the ELN, from January 1 to June 30.

However the ELN, which final month concluded a primary spherical of peace talks with Petro’s left-wing authorities, mentioned in an announcement on Tuesday that it had “not mentioned any proposal for a bilateral ceasefire” with Bogota and, “due to this fact, no such settlement exists.”

As a substitute, the group mentioned, the ceasefire was a “proposal to be examined”.

On Wednesday, Inside Minister Alfonso Prada mentioned throughout a information convention that the ELN has raised the significance of a bilateral ceasefire on a number of events and requested the federal government to answer a unilateral Christmas ceasefire by the ELN.

“Beneath this understanding, the Colombian authorities declared the bilateral ceasefire,” Prada informed reporters. “However within the face of the place assumed publicly yesterday, below which the protocol of mentioned ceasefire ought to be taken to the negotiating desk, now we have determined to droop.”

The about-face comes as Petro continues to pursue his “whole peace” plan, looking for to convey an finish to almost six many years of armed battle, which killed at the least 450,000 individuals from 1985 to 2018 alone.

The Colombian authorities signed a peace settlement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in 2016, which noticed members of the left-wing insurgent group disarm. However some FARC dissidents rejected the deal and have picked up weapons once more.

Violence has surged in Colombia lately, particularly in components of the nation that lay outdoors authorities management and the place armed teams are concerned in drug trafficking and different illicit actions. The Indepaz analysis institute recorded almost 100 massacres final 12 months.

Peace talks between the Colombian authorities and the ELN in neighbouring Venezuela ended “efficiently” on December 12, each groups mentioned, though a ceasefire was not reached. One other spherical of talks is because of happen in Mexico, however a date has but to be set.

On Wednesday, Prada referred to as on the ELN to declare a verifiable truce when the difficulty is mentioned in these upcoming negotiations.

“Solely when now we have the circumstances of the protocols completely agreed can we elevate the suspension,” mentioned the minister, including within the meantime that the army and police could proceed their offensive towards the rebels.

Prada mentioned ceasefires remained in pressure with the opposite 4 teams: FARC dissidents generally known as the Estado Mayor Central and Segunda Marquetalia, the Clan del Golfo and the Self-Protection Forces of the Sierra Nevada.

The ELN has about 3,500 fighters throughout Colombia, based on official estimates.