Colombia, ELN rebels hail progress in second round of peace talks

ELN official says two sides took ‘first steps’ in the direction of a short lived ceasefire as negotiations in Mexico Metropolis conclude.

Colombia’s authorities and the left-wing Nationwide Liberation Military (ELN) insurgent group have hailed progress of their efforts to finish many years of armed battle within the South American nation, as a second spherical of peace talks concluded in Mexico Metropolis.

The negotiations come as a part of an effort by President Gustavo Petro – the nation’s first left-wing chief and former M-19 insurgent – to succeed in peace or give up offers with armed teams and produce “whole peace” to Colombia.

The ELN, based by Catholic monks in 1964, is the nation’s largest remaining insurgent organisation.

“We took the primary steps to agency up a bilateral, nationwide and short-term ceasefire which is able to create higher situations for Colombians’ mobilisation and participation within the peace course of,” the ELN’s Pablo Beltran mentioned on Friday.

Otty Patino, the pinnacle of the Colombian authorities’s delegation, mentioned making a ceasefire will probably be a high problem for the following cycle of talks set to happen in Cuba, as will creating a “pilot plan” for peace and increasing participation within the negotiations.

The primary spherical of peace talks, held within the Venezuelan capital of Caracas late final yr, resulted in diverging narratives. Colombia’s authorities introduced a truce had been reached whereas the ELN denied it had accepted any such settlement, saying a ceasefire “was merely a proposal to be thought-about”.

Earlier negotiations with the ELN have faltered amid the group’s diffuse chain of command and dissent inside its ranks.

In 2019, conservative former President Ivan Duque known as off peace talks with the ELN after a automotive bomb assault on a police academy in Bogota that killed 22 individuals.

ELN leaders have mentioned fighters are on board with the present talks.

On Friday, Norway and Mexico, which have served as facilitators within the negotiations, hailed their progress.

“Congratulations to the [Colombian] authorities and the #ELN guerilla on substantial progress within the peace talks in Mexico, on key matters like participation, humanitarian reduction & future stop hearth,” Norway’s overseas affairs ministry tweeted.

The ELN has about 2,500 remaining fighters and has been accused of financing itself by means of drug trafficking, unlawful mining and kidnappings.

Petro, who received the election in June, has additionally mentioned he plans to completely implement a earlier accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed in 2016.

Greater than 450,000 individuals have been killed in practically 60 years of armed battle within the nation.