Colombia FARC rebels announce month-long truce
Rebels belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have announced a one-month unilateral ceasefire amid calls for de-escalation in the country's decades-old conflict.
The truce will take effect on July 20, said Ivan Marquez, FARC chief negotiator at long-running peace talks with the Colombian government, in the Cuban capital city of Havana on Wednesday.
The goal of the month-long truce is to "create favorable conditions in order to advance with the opposing side toward a bilateral and definitive ceasefire,” Marquez said.
He further noted that the FARC was acting on an appeal issued on Tuesday by four countries - Cuba, Norway, Chile and Venezuela - supporting the peace negotiations between Colombian warring sides.
Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos welcomed the move on Twitter, saying, "We appreciate the gesture of a unilateral ceasefire by the FARC but more is needed, especially concrete commitments to speed up the negotiations.”
Back in May, the FARC ended its unilateral truce that had been in place since December last year.
The Colombian government and the FARC rebels have been holding peace talks in Havana since late 2012, but the negotiations have so far produced only partial agreements on several issues, including combating drug trafficking.
The Colombian military has also carried out airstrikes against FARC.
FARC is Latin America’s oldest rebel group and has been fighting the government since 1964. More than 200,000 people have been killed in clashes between the two sides.
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