Farc weapons handover begins in Colombia, Timochenko announces
Farc rebels in Colombia say they
have handed over 30% of their arms to United Nations (UN ) monitors,
under the terms of last year's peace agreement.
They will hand over another 30% of their arms next Wednesday, with the remainder due to be surrendered in a fortnight's time.
The weapons are to be stored at 26 locations around the country.
After five decades of war and years of negotiations, Farc and the government came to a peace agreement last year.
Farc, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, is the country's biggest rebel group.
There are 7,000 fighters handing over their rifles and pistols and the group will become a political party.
Farc leader Rodrigo Londoño Echeverri, who is better known as Timochenko, made the announcement on social media on Wednesday.
The timeline will see them meet a 20 June deadline, which has been extended from the start of the month.
The
decades-long conflict between rebel groups, state forces,
paramilitaries and drug gangs killed hundreds of thousands of people and
displaced more than seven million.
The
peace deal was initially rejected in a referendum, then reworked and
implemented. Since it came in to force the national army has been
granted access to areas that were once occupied by the Farc and former rebels have been rejoining civilian life.
But in a move that threatened the process, a rebel was arrested in contravention of the deal's terms. President Juan Manuel Santos put the arrest down to "confusion" and the man was released.
For his efforts to reach peace with the Farc, Mr Santos was awarded last year's Nobel Peace Prize.
BBC NEWS
No comments:
Post a Comment