Colombia will seek to restart peace talks with the FARC by the end of the year

Colombia to restart peace talks with insurgents ELN: Government must respect the terms of last peace deal The agreement with the FARC, signed last year, stipulated that the guerrillas would hand in to the authorities and abandon attacks on coca plantation fields.

Colombia’s government will seek to restart peace talks with the FARC by the end of the year, the country’s prime minister announced Friday.

Jose Valencia said the talks would be “a turning point” for Colombia “if they are properly managed” and that he would make a decision on the new peace process at around the end of September.

The United States and Canada, which have spent billions of dollars on the FARC guerrillas fighting a guerrilla war since 1964, have repeatedly urged the peace process to begin a dialogue with the FARC by the end of the year.

The FARC, or Antioqueños de Colombia, are the main rebel group fighting for the right to political participation, and have been in negotiation with the Colombian government since at least last year, agreeing to negotiate in the next six months and handing over all weapons in November 2019.

The government of President Ivan Duque has promised to hold a summit by the end of 2018 to formally agree on a peace deal with the rebels.

If the process is not going to happen until then, Valencia announced a new deadline, saying the peace process would begin again in 2019 after a “thorough review”.

The previous deadline of December 23, 2017 was agreed on to allow time for the peace process to continue, he added.

“We will restart the process in 2019 because we need to get to the root of this conflict and get peace for Colombia,” Valencia said.

Venezuela opposition leader Juan Guaido, the self-proclaimed president of the United States-backed opposition, says he will seek a new election in the country on September 20 to avoid another power vacuum.

The United Nations

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