Deal signed to end Colombia’s Farc conflict

COLOMBIA’S president has announced a historic agreement with Farc rebel leaders signalling the end of more than 50 years of civil conflict.

Juan Manuel Santos said negotiations, which have been taking place in Cuba since 2012, would be finalised within six months.

The pact was marked with an unprecedented handshake between Mr Santos and Rodrigo Londono, known as Timochenko, the leader of the Revo- lutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), on Wednesday night.

“We have reached agreement on the basis of a system of justice that allows me to say with conviction that we will achieve the maximum justice possible for the victims.” Mr Santos said.

Farc began life in 1964 as a group of Marxist rebels but their revolt eventually became intertwined with the region’s drug wars.

The peace deal includes setting up special courts to try crimes committed during five decades of violence between the government and Farc, which killed an estimated 600,000 people and displaced more than three million.

Mr Santos said those who admitted their guilt would receive sentences of up to eight years while those who did not cooperate would face jail terms of up to 20 years if convicted.

Farc is expected to begin disarming within 60 days of signing the agreement. However, critics of the deal were quick to express their anger. Alfredo Rangel, an opposition senator, said that allowing former Farc fighters to escape prison was “rejected by 80 per cent of Colombians”.