Colombia signs new peace accord with FARC rebels
The government of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as FARC, have signed a revised peace agreement, aiming to end a half century of hostilities in the Latin American country.
Santos, who won the Nobel Peace Prize last month for his peace efforts, and FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, better known as Timochenko, signed the 310-page accord during a ceremony at Bogota’s historic Colon Theater on Thursday.
Santos said the revised agreement was "better" than the previous, adding that it would “allow us to believe in a better tomorrow.”
“In a world convulsed by conflicts, people praise us for having achieved peace,” he said.
Londono said the agreement "put a definite end to the war so we can confront our difference in a civilized manner."
The new deal is a modified version containing more than 50 changes compared to the original agreement that was narrowly rejected by voters in a referendum in early October on the grounds that it was too lenient on the FARC rebels who had committed years of atrocities and bloodshed.
The revised text includes the original deal's major doctrines. Under the deal, FARC would disarm and transform into a political party.
The opposition has rejected the peace deal with FAR, saying it does not go far enough in punishing rebels who committed atrocities throughout the years.
Opposition leader and former president Alvaro Uribe, who spearheaded the push to reject the original accord, has wanted deeper changes to the new version. He is also furious Santos will ratify the new deal in Congress instead of holding another vote.
On October 22, negotiators from FARC and the government started a new round of talks in Havana, Cuba, to find ways to save the peace agreement signed in September.
The conflict between the warring sides has claimed more than 260,000 lives and displaced nearly seven million people over the past 52 years.
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