Rebels exchange weapons for words
COLOMBIA: Colombia’s president declared the end of the world’s longest-running civil war yesterday at a forest disarmament ceremony, as the United Nations confirmed that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had finally handed over all its weapons.
Speaking amid a cloud of white butterflies, Nobel Peace Prize winner Juan Manuel Santos hailed ‘‘the best news Colombia has had for 50 years’’, while lamenting the 220,000 lives lost and millions displaced.
Demobilising guerrillas flocked to Mesetas, the rural area in central Colombia where the founding members of FARC set up their first base 60 years ago. They applauded with dignitaries from around the world as video links showed weapons stockpiles being sealed by UN monitors.
The roughly 7000 former FARC fighters have pledged to continue their struggle as a political movement. FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, who goes by the nom de guerre Timochenko, pronounced the ‘‘opening of a new era’’ for Colombia.
It has been a process marked by setbacks, including the rejection of the deal in a referendum last year, forcing hasty revisions before it was rubber-stamped by parlia- ment. Demobilisation has been slow, with complaints from guerrillas that the government has failed to fulfil its promises.
The UN said it had received all 7132 individual weapons registered by FARC. It had also verified 77 stockpiles and destroyed explosives and ammunition. The weapons will be stored in containers until they are moulded into a peace monument.
Financed by drug trafficking, kidnapping for ransom and extortion, FARC had about 17,000 combatants in the 1990s, capable of launching military attacks close to Bogota, the capital. But it was driven deep into Colombia’s inhos- pitable jungles by a relentless military offensive that began in 2002.
Santos, who took office in 2010, began secret talks with FARC commanders that led to negotiations in Cuba and a peace accord.
However, many Colombians fear that the days of terror are not yet over. In some regions, FARC’s withdrawal has heralded an upsurge in violence as paramilitaries and other guerrilla groups, such as the ELN, battle for control of territory. The drug trade has exploded, with cocaine production more than doubling in the past three years.
– Telegraph Group, Reuters