Colombia eyes new front in peace talks today

bogota — Colombia’s government hopes to open a new front on Thursday in efforts to bury a halfcentury armed conflict, starting talks with the country’s secondbiggest rebel force.

An accord with the leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) was meant to be the icing on the cake of a historic agreement signed last month with Colombia’s biggest rebel group, the Farc.

That was until voters surprised the government by rejecting the Farc accord in a referendum on October 2.

Now, President Juan Manuel Santos is trying to salvage the Farc accord while also talks with the ELN.

His government plans to formally establish negotiations on Thursday in the Ecuadoran capital Quito with the ELN, Colombia’s secondbiggest insurgent group.

Like the Farc, the ELN formed in 1964 and is blamed for killings and kidnappings during a multi-sided 52-year civil war.

A dispute over the last hostage held by the ELN, former congressman Odin Sanchez, has threatened to delay the start of talks, however.

The government insisted the ELN free all its hostages before

all the protocol is being observed and the proceedings are on track

Dario de Jesus, archbishop of the city of Cali

talks could begin — just as it had at the start of negotiations with the Farc in 2012.

The ELN bristled this week after the government’s lead negotiator Juan Camilo Restrepo issued an ultimatum for Sanchez’s release.

But a Catholic Church spokesman close to the negotiations said on Tuesday that moves were under way to free him in time. “All the protocol is being observed and the proceedings are on track,” said Dario de Jesus Monsalve, archbishop of the city of Cali.

“The operation is under way and I hope they will make an effort to hand him over before October 27,” he said on Caracol Radio.

The rebel force said on Twitter late on Monday: “Overcoming difficulties, the ELN delegation for the peace talks is getting ready to be in Quito.” Analyst Camilo Echandia of Colombia’s Externado University said the ELN was reluctant to accept the release of hostages as a condition for talks, even though that would show a “will for peace.” —