Colombia, rebels set pact deadline

BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the nation’s leftist guerrillas shook hands as the two sides agreed to sign a peace deal within six months, putting the country nearer to ending the region’s longest-running war.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia will start to disarm within 60 days of the peace deal being signed, the parties said in a joint news conference in Havana, where peace talks have been taking place. Negotiators set a deadline of March 23, 2016, to wrap up the talks and sign.

Negotiators reached a breakthrough on a major sticking point that had deadlocked the talks for more than a year, reaching an agreement on punishment for crimes against humanity committed during the five-decade conflict.

“We have ensured justice, and not impunity, and we have set deadlines to reach an end to the war,” Santos told reporters afterward.

The agreement contemplates an “ample” amnesty for political offenses, but no impunity for crimes such as massacres, torture, rape, kidnapping and forced displacement, according to the joint statement. People confessing to such crimes will face restrictions on their liberty of between five and eight years, while people refusing to take responsibility and found guilty face up to 20 years in jail. The agreement applies to the army and the police, as well as the guerrillas.

Rebel leader Rodrigo Londono, alias Timochenko, has been fighting the Colombian state for decades, and had a $5 million reward put on his head by the U.S., which says he’s a terrorist and a cocaine trafficker. Santos spent years overseeing efforts to kill him, first as Colombia’s defense minister and then as president.

“Even after having paid a high price for rebelling against injustice, with our families also suffering the consequences of repression, putting our lives at risk, we insurgents are prepared to take responsibility for our actions during the resistance,” Timochenko said.

Negotiators had previously reached agreements on agrarian reform, political participation and fighting illegal drugs, and still need to agree on details of the end of the conflict and the implementation of the deals.

None of the agreements will take effect until a full peace deal is reached with an end to hostilities, and voters approve it.