Thursday, September 24, 2015

Colombia, FARC reach breakthrough agreement in Havana

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the FARC Rodrigo Londoño Echeverri, also known as Timoleon Jimenez, announced in Havana Wednesday that the two sides had reached a landmark understanding about how to bring their long civil war to an end.

The two sides signed an agreement that lays out guidelines regarding how Colombia will investigate human rights abuses and punish the guerrillas held responsible for those abuses and how to compensate victims, according to a press conference held Wednesday afternoon.

While addressing Echeverri who was seated at his side, Santos praised "the steps the FARC has taken today. We are adversaries but we now advance in the same direction...which is toward peace."

According to Santos, Colombian government and the guerrilla rebel group -- the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) -- also agreed to seal a final peace agreement within six months, specifically by March 23, 2016, bringing an end to the peace talks of more than three years in Havana, the Cuban capital.

However, obstacles remain as both sides must still work on and agree to how guerrillas will be demobilized and disarmed, said the Colombian president.

The two sides will create specific bodies to oversee parts of the peace process, including a special commission tasked with matters related to reparations paid out to victims and a dedicated tribunal set up to extend amnesty to combatants except those who committed war crimes.

Santos promised the peace deal, which is expected to end the 51-year-long war in Colombia, will be voted on by the Colombian people in a national referendum.

While the announcement of Wednesday's agreement was heralded widely by the international community, Alvaro Uribe, predecessor of Santos, lambasted the deal on his Twitter account, saying "It's not peace that's near, it's surrender to the FARC." 

 Xinhua - china.org.cn
24/9/15
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4 comments:

  1. Colombia's president, rebels announce breakthough in peace talks...

    Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the country's largest rebel group announced on Wednesday an important breakthrough in peace talks that sets the stage to end Latin America's longest-running armed conflict.

    In a joint statement from Cuba, Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia said they have overcome the last significant obstacle to a peace deal by settling on a formula to punish belligerents for human rights abuses committed during a half century of bloody, drug-fueled fighting.

    "We are on different sides but today we advance in the same direction, in the most noble direction a society can take, which is toward peace," said Santos, minutes before a historic, cold-faced handshake with the military commander of the FARC guerrillas, known by his alias Timochenko......AP......ctvnews.ca
    24/9/15

    ReplyDelete
  2. Colombie/Farc: annonce d' importants accords" sur le sort judiciaire des combattants ...

    Le président colombien Juan Manuel Santos et le numéro un des Farc Timoleon Jimenez, dit "Timochenko", vont annoncer mercredi à Cuba d'"importants accords" sur le sort judiciaire des combattants du conflit civil en Colombie, ont annoncé les autorités cubaines.

    Manuel Santos, qui vient d'arriver à La Havane, siège des pourparlers de paix colombiens, et M. Jimenez vont annoncer "d'importants accords sur une juridiction spéciale pour la paix", a précisé le ministère cubain des Affaires étrangères dans un communiqué publié peu avant une réunion historique prévue à 17H00 (23H00 HB). Il s'agit du premier face-à-face entre le président Santos et le chef des Farc, recherché pour homicide aggravé, terrorisme, enlèvement et rébellion. La justice et le sort réservé aux auteurs de crimes de guerre est un volet crucial des pourparlers de paix censés mettre fin à plus d'un demi-siècle de conflit, le plus ancien d'Amérique latine et le dernier encore en cours sur le continent.

    "La justice est le nœud des négociations de paix", a assuré mercredi la présidence colombienne dans un communiqué, insistant sur le fait qu'un accord sur ce thème constituerait "un point de non-retour" vers la paix. Cuba est, avec la Norvège, un médiateur de ce processus de paix entamé en novembre 2012.
    rtbf.be
    24/9/15

    ReplyDelete
  3. La guerrilla de las FARC presentó este martes una propuesta de 10 puntos para avanzar en el desescalamiento del conflicto interno colombiano y garantizar una paz estable y duradera, dijo su portavoz Judith Simanca, alias "Victoria Sandino", en un comunicado que leyó ante cámaras de la televisión cubana...

    La propuesta hace parte de una serie de iniciativas para formalizar las reformas y realizar los ajustes necesarios para continuar los acuerdos de manera positiva, sostuvo Victoria Sandino mientras se desarrolla en La Habana el ciclo 42 de los diálogos de paz entre el Gobierno y las FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia).........http://sptnkne.ws/RPy

    ReplyDelete
  4. Colombian President Orders Intensified Anti-ELN Operation...

    The ELN ambush occurred when rebels laid an explosive device on a rural road in Boyaca Department, one of the regions where local and departmental elections were held on Sunday.

    "I have ordered the Defense Ministry and armed forces to redouble efforts and intensify the military strategy against the ELN," Santos’ office tweeted late Monday.

    Santos was later quoted as saying "the message is clear: we will face them with all the power of armed forces."

    The slain law enforcement official and 11 soldiers, in addition to three wounded soldiers and additional five officials declared missing, were involved in maintaining security at the local ballot stations.

    The ELN is the second-largest rebel group in Colombia after FARC, with whom the Colombian government signed a legal justice deal for crimes committed during the decades-long armed conflict in the country.
    http://sptnkne.ws/XTM
    27/10/15

    ReplyDelete

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