Colombia government, rebels agree to full ceasefire

Colombia`s government and the FARC guerrilla group reached agreement Wednesday on a definitive ceasefire in Latin America`s longest civil war, they said in a joint statement.

"The national government and FARC delegations inform the public that we have successfully reached an agreement for a definitive bilateral ceasefire and end to hostilities," the statement said.

The announcement heralds an end to a half-century conflict that has seen hundreds of thousands of people killed in the jungles of the major cocaine-producing country.

The deal would all but end the conflict by resolving one of the final points at peace talks between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the country`s biggest rebel group.

FARC commander Carlos Lozada tweeted: "On Thursday, June 23, we will announce the last day of the war."

The means of implementation of the final peace deal remain to be settled.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said this week he hopes to seal a full peace deal by July 20.

The Colombian conflict started as a rural uprising in the 1960s.

It has drawn in various leftist rebel groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs over the decades in this South American state of 49 million people.

It has left 260,000 people dead, 45,000 missing and nearly seven million displaced, according to official figures.

Human rights groups say atrocities have been committed on all sides. Many families are still searching for missing loved ones.Santos`s government wants a referendum to put the seal of popular approval on its peace effort. But it faces resistance from some political rivals.

To hold a plebiscite, it needs the country`s constitutional judges to approve a law already passed in Congress.

Peace talks have been underway in Havana since 2012. They got a boost when the FARC declared a unilateral ceasefire a year ago...
 [AFP/zeenews.india.com]
22/6/16
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