Buenos Aires, Aug. 4, (dpa/GNA) - A six-month ceasefire between the Colombian government and the leftist guerrilla group ELN began on Thursday.
The National Participation Committee, made up of representatives of the government, the ELN and civil society, met in the capital Bogotá to kick off the process. The committee is to guide the peace process in the coming months.
“We will not leave the negotiating table until the armed conflict is over,” the government’s chief negotiator Otty Patiño said.
ELN negotiator María Consuelo Tapias said the committee had to “to overcome the political and structural violence and build a new democracy.”
The representative of the Colombian Bishops’ Conference, Héctor Fabio Henao, called on the representatives of both camps to show courage for peace.
“We don’t want to live as enemies or adversaries, but as brothers who walk the path of peace together,” he said.
Colombia suffered through a 52-year-long civil war waged between left-wing rebels, right-wing paramilitaries and the military that left 220,000 people dead and millions more displaced.
The security situation in Colombia improved following a 2016 peace agreement between the government and the largest left-wing rebel group, FARC. But parts of the country remain under the control of other rebel groups or criminal organizations.
GNA