COLOMBIA: Colombian government to begin peace talks with ELN

Record ID: 349953

  • Title: COLOMBIA: Colombian government to begin peace talks with ELN
  • Date: 10th June 2014
  • Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (FILE - NOVEMBER, 2011) (REUTERS) COLOMBIAN PRESIDENT JUAN MANUEL SANTOS DURING MILITARY CEREMONY VARIOUS OF MILITARY PERSONNEL DURING CEREMONY SOLDIERS MARCHING SANTOS DURING THE MILITARY CEREMONY
  • Embargoed: 25th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Colombia
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA6FDWEACXEIA8XA2YLTWL672SS
  • Story Text: President Juan Manuel Santos' has begun exploratory peace talks with leftist ELN rebels, the government said on Tuesday (June 10), just days before voters go to the polls in one of the tightest presidential election battles in decades.
    The center-right government said it started discussing an agenda at early in the year to begin official negotiations to end a half century war with the National Liberation Army (ELN).
    The government has been in peace talks with the ELN's larger counterpart, the FARC, since November 2012 in Cuba.
    Government spokeswoman Marcela Duran said that exploratory talks between both sides were initiated in January.
    "The national government and the ELN started a exploratory phase of conversations in January of this year after a series of meetings that they held starting in 2013. The objective of this exploratory phase is to agree on an agenda and to design a process that could make the end of the conflict possible and the construction of a lasting and stable peacetime for Colombia," said Duran.
    Santos faces right-wing Oscar Ivan Zuluaga in a presidential ballot on Sunday (June 15), which is shaping up to be the closest race in two decades. Zuluaga has bitterly opposed the talks with the FARC and is likely to object to negotiations with the ELN.
    Colombia's leftist political parties have thrown support behind Santos in a bid to preserve the peace process.
    Zuluaga has said that if elected, he would not immediately end talks with the FARC, but would impose conditions like jail terms and a ban on political participation.
    The ELN has battled a dozen governments since it was founded in 1964 and is considered a terrorist group by the United States and the European Union.
    Inspired by the Cuban revolution and established by radical Catholic priests, the ELN was close to disappearing in the 1970s but gradually regained strength. By 2002 it had as many as 5,000 fighters, financed by "war taxes" levied on landowners and oil companies.
    The ELN is now believed to have about 3,000 fighters. It has sought peace before, holding talks with the Colombian government in Cuba and Venezuela between 2002 and 2007. Experts say there was a lack of will on both sides to agree a final peace plan.
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