News / Colombia

FARC rebels, Colombia govt. adjust peace deal

Friday, 28 October 2016 6:22 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 28 October 2016 9:01 PM ]

(L to R) Colombia's government negotiator Sergio Jaramillo, Colombia's government lead negotiator Humberto de la Calle, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) lead negotiator Ivan Marquez and FARC negotiator Pablo Catatumbo attend a joint conference in Havana, Cuba, October 28, 2016. (Photo by Reuters)

The government of Colombia and rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) say they have made adjustments to a peace treaty that was rejected in a plebiscite, and will continue to make more modifications until they reach a solution.

"The proposals are being discussed carefully. Many of them are being incorporated into the text of a new agreement," the negotiating parties said in a joint statement in the Cuban capital Havana on Friday, but refrained from revealing the content of the adjustments.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos asked the government's chief negotiator with FARC to return from Havana to attend a meeting on Saturday with the opponents of the peace agreement.

"I have asked the chief negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, and the Peace Commissioner Sergio Jaramillo, to return today to inform me of progress with FARC and to attend this and other meetings," Santos said.

The Nobel peace prize winning president said reaching a new agreement was necessary because the current truce was "fragile."

He reiterated that the willingness and good faith of all parties were key to reaching a peace deal that the country could agree on.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (Photo by AFP)

On October 22, negotiators from FARC and the government began new talks in Havana to find ways to save the peace agreement signed on September 26, which Colombians voted against in a plebiscite on October 2.

The rejection of the peace deal at the polls prevented the implementation of the pact aimed at ending the decades-long armed conflict that has left 52 million people dead, displaced and missing.

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