The authorities of Colombia won’t unilaterally finish peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels, its delegation stated Thursday.
Vera Grabe, head of the federal government’s delegation, and Senator Ivan Cepeda, stated it was as much as the insurgent group to make selections about the way forward for the talks, which restarted in late 2022 underneath leftist President Gustavo Petro’s complete peace coverage.
“The purpose of this government is to complete the peace process with the National Liberation Army. We’re not going to be the ones to take the step of breaking off the negotiations,” Cepeda stated at a press convention in Bogota.
ELN prime commander Antonio Garcia posted an announcement from the group on X on Thursday that stated the peace talks had been in “crisis” and the insurgent group wanted “to know if the government would keep its word” and uphold a future deal.
It added that peace talks might resume if the federal government eliminated ELN from its record of organized armed teams later this month.
Colombia’s six many years of battle have left greater than 450,000 folks useless, and the federal government hopes to barter an finish to ELN’s function within the violence.
A six-month ceasefire between the 2 sides expired this month, and Colombia’s authorities has stated army operations in opposition to the insurgent group would restart.
The ELN has stated it could not assault the army however warned it could defend itself as wanted.
After six rounds of talks, the negotiations hit a disaster when the federal government met individually in May with an ELN faction in Narino province to barter its handover of weapons and reintegration into society.
ELN central management stated the transfer undermined the bigger peace talks.
In its assertion on Thursday, the group referred to as for a “technical extension” of the cease-fire by Aug. 23 to allow the federal government to delist ELN as an organized armed group, a step it stated was due greater than a yr in the past. After that, peace talks might resume, the ELN stated.
Source: www.dailysabah.com