Colombia, ELN rebels to begin peace talks

By Richard McColl

BOGOTA, Colombia (AA) - The ELN guerrilla group and Colombian government have agreed to begin formal peace talks Feb. 8 in Ecuador, President Juan Manuel Santos said Wednesday.

“The two sides, the Colombian government and the ELN, are at this moment in Ecuador negotiating how to begin official dialogues to bring an end to the armed conflict which has run for 52 years,” Santos said from Davos, Switzerland, where he is attending an economic summit.

The agreement comes after five days of talks in the Ecuadorian city of Ibarra.

The two sides were set to being negotiations in Ecuador last October following months of exploratory talks but those efforts collapsed as the guerrillas failed to release former congressman Odin Sánchez who has been held hostage since April.

“What I can say is that we have reached an agreement,” Santos said. “You’ll remember that we had set a number of conditions such as the release of a hostage, this was agreed and the release date has been agreed, too. In order to begin the dialogues, Odin Sánchez must be freed and I am confident that this will happen,” he added as he thanked Ecuador and President [Rafael] Correa for helping to facilitate the talks.

The ELN has insisted on the importance the government release two top-ranking guerrillas, Juan Carlos Cuéllar and Eduardo Martínez Quiroz in order to begin negotiations.

The National Liberation Army (ELN) number an estimated 2,500 fighters and has staged attacks that have caused major damage to infrastructure, in particular oil pipelines. The rebel group is the country’s second guerrilla outfit behind the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that signed a peace deal in November.

ELN celebrated the announcement of the date of peace talks on social media. “This great day shows that putting pressure or impositions are not the way. This is a great triumph for society,” it said on Twitter.