- Title: CUBA: Colombia's FARC hope for progress in new round of talks
- Date: 23rd October 2013
- Summary: HAVANA, CUBA (OCTOBER 23, 2013) (REUTERS) FARC DELEGATION ARRIVING FOR NEW ROUND OF TALKS CAMERAMAN VARIOUS OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FARC NEGOTIATOR, ANDRES PARIS, SAYING: "We are just about to start the session. We don't know if once started, we'll receive new proposals. For the time being, everything will continue with the established rhythm and metho
- Embargoed: 7th November 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Cuba
- Country: Cuba
- Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA65UM2JBEVIJEB3MLQZVKPJJTY
- Story Text: The FARC and Colombian government start new round of peace talks, with the FARC saying they hope to make advances.
Colombia's left-wing FARC rebels said on Wednesday (October 23) they hope for progress as they started a new round of peace negotiations with the Colombian government.
Polls in Colombia show the population appears to be tiring of the talks, which have dragged on for 11 months with only a partial accord on agrarian reform, the first point of a six-point agenda.
The parties currently are negotiating on the rebels' future political participation and still have before them the issues of reparations to war victims, the narcotics trade, ceasing hostilities and implementing the agreement.
FARC representatives said they were hoping for more progress during this round.
"We are only just about to start the session. We don't know if once started, we'll receive new proposals. For the time being, everything will continue with the established rhythm and methodology. But with double the will to reach a peace deal," said FARC negotiator, Andres Paris.
The Colombian government wants a peace accord by the November start of a national electoral cycle, a deadline both parties and observers now say will not be met and may complicate the talks.
Paris said both delegations were committed.
"We are clinging to the talks, both delegations are tight. One recognizes its commitments, the other finds itself surrounded by many messages in the media which sometimes confuse us with regards to their purpose. But it is clear that in the formal and officially established, both delegations will work as stated by the internal general agreement."
The Colombian government in the past has accused rebel negotiators of deliberately stalling the deliberations by bringing up issues not on the agenda and using the talks for propaganda purposes.
Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) has in turn accused the government of not taking seriously 100 proposals it had offered on the second point of the agenda, which includes rights and guarantees for the exercise of political opposition after a peace is signed.
The war, which has raged for 50 years and is the last major guerilla conflict in Latin America, has killed more than 200,000 Colombians, mostly civilians, displaced millions and weighed down the fourth-largest economy in the region.
The talks recess every few weeks. They are being facilitated by Cuba and Norway and hosted in Havana even as fighting continues in Colombia. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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