Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos offered Wednesday to enter into a bilateral ceasefire with FARC guerrillas from January 1, which would mark a major breakthrough in peace talks.
In an address from the presidential palace, Santos offered to grant the leftist rebels' longstanding demand for a bilateral ceasefire as part of their nearly three-year-old peace negotiations with the government.
He said the truce would be contingent on sealing a deal on the final point in the six-point agenda for the peace talks, the disarmament and demobilization of rebel fighters.
"Let's make an effort so that by December 31 we can finish the agenda point on the end of the conflict and be able to declare a bilateral, internationally monitored ceasefire from January 1," he said.
The rebels, who have been observing a unilateral ceasefire since July, have repeatedly insisted the government reciprocate with a bilateral truce.
Santos has suspended air strikes on FARC positions but had so far refused a truce, insisting it would only strengthen the rebels' hand and drag out negotiations.
Ongoing clashes on the ground have strained the peace talks in the Cuban capital Havana.
The president's address came just after the defense minister announced the army had killed four FARC fighters and captured two in an operation in southwestern Colombia.
The operation targeted a FARC unit involved in extortion and drug trafficking, he said.
The two sides have set a target date of March 23, 2016 to reach a final peace accord.
They announced the deadline last month after reaching a landmark deal on the delicate issue of meting out justice for the abuses that human rights groups say both sides have committed in the conflict.
Founded in 1964 in the aftermath of a peasant uprising, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have been fighting the Colombian government for more than half a century, in a conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people.
- Second front: ELN -
Santos, who has staked his presidency on bringing peace to Colombia, faces a harder task at the moment dealing with the FARC's rival rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN).
He has ordered the army to intensify its offensive against the ELN after the group killed 12 soldiers and police Monday in the remote indigenous reserve of Bachira.
The attack targeted a convoy transporting result sheets from the country's local and regional elections Sunday, disrupting what Santos had called the most peaceful polls in Colombia's recent history.
Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas condemned the action as a "war crime."
He said the ELN fighters had killed their victims execution-style and surrounded the bodies with land mines in an attempt to kill the emergency workers who arrived to transport them.
The ELN claimed the attack but disputed the casualty toll, saying it in fact killed 17 soldiers and a police officer and wounded several people.
The group is now holding two soldiers captured during the operation.
The ELN has not come to the negotiating table along with the FARC, though it has held preliminary talks with the government on opening a parallel peace process.
It said Tuesday it was prepared to sign a bilateral ceasefire with the government to create "a favorable climate" for negotiations.
The government estimates the ELN has 2,500 fighters and the FARC 7,000.
Colombia's entangled conflict, which has also drawn in drug traffickers and right-wing paramilitaries, has uprooted more than six million people in the past five decades.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos offered Wednesday to enter into a bilateral ceasefire with FARC guerrillas from January 1, which would mark a major breakthrough in peace talks.
In an address from the presidential palace, Santos offered to grant the leftist rebels’ longstanding demand for a bilateral ceasefire as part of their nearly three-year-old peace negotiations with the government.
He said the truce would be contingent on sealing a deal on the final point in the six-point agenda for the peace talks, the disarmament and demobilization of rebel fighters.
“Let’s make an effort so that by December 31 we can finish the agenda point on the end of the conflict and be able to declare a bilateral, internationally monitored ceasefire from January 1,” he said.
The rebels, who have been observing a unilateral ceasefire since July, have repeatedly insisted the government reciprocate with a bilateral truce.
Santos has suspended air strikes on FARC positions but had so far refused a truce, insisting it would only strengthen the rebels’ hand and drag out negotiations.
Ongoing clashes on the ground have strained the peace talks in the Cuban capital Havana.
The president’s address came just after the defense minister announced the army had killed four FARC fighters and captured two in an operation in southwestern Colombia.
The operation targeted a FARC unit involved in extortion and drug trafficking, he said.
The two sides have set a target date of March 23, 2016 to reach a final peace accord.
They announced the deadline last month after reaching a landmark deal on the delicate issue of meting out justice for the abuses that human rights groups say both sides have committed in the conflict.
Founded in 1964 in the aftermath of a peasant uprising, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have been fighting the Colombian government for more than half a century, in a conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people.
– Second front: ELN –
Santos, who has staked his presidency on bringing peace to Colombia, faces a harder task at the moment dealing with the FARC’s rival rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN).
He has ordered the army to intensify its offensive against the ELN after the group killed 12 soldiers and police Monday in the remote indigenous reserve of Bachira.
The attack targeted a convoy transporting result sheets from the country’s local and regional elections Sunday, disrupting what Santos had called the most peaceful polls in Colombia’s recent history.
Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas condemned the action as a “war crime.”
He said the ELN fighters had killed their victims execution-style and surrounded the bodies with land mines in an attempt to kill the emergency workers who arrived to transport them.
The ELN claimed the attack but disputed the casualty toll, saying it in fact killed 17 soldiers and a police officer and wounded several people.
The group is now holding two soldiers captured during the operation.
The ELN has not come to the negotiating table along with the FARC, though it has held preliminary talks with the government on opening a parallel peace process.
It said Tuesday it was prepared to sign a bilateral ceasefire with the government to create “a favorable climate” for negotiations.
The government estimates the ELN has 2,500 fighters and the FARC 7,000.
Colombia’s entangled conflict, which has also drawn in drug traffickers and right-wing paramilitaries, has uprooted more than six million people in the past five decades.
