Colombia to temporarily halt bombing of FARC rebels

Colombia will stop air raids on Marxist FARC rebels for a month, President Juan Manuel Santos said, a major stride in a peace process aimed at ending Latin America’s longest-running civil war. “To start the de-escalation of the conflict I have decided to order the minister of defense and armed forces commanders to stop bombing raids on FARC camps for a mont,” Santos said. The FARC declared an indefinite, unilateral ceasefire on December 18, but Santos had until now rejected a bilateral ceasefire without a definitive peace deal. Air raids are the government forces’ main strategy at taking out the guerrillas. Santos said that once the month suspension of bombing missions was up, the military would make an assessment on how to move forward.

As far as the FARC’s unilateral ceasefire… one has to acknowledge that they have been complying.

President Juan Manuel Santos

The peace talks in Havana, which began in November 2012, have produced partial accords on several issues, but have yet to yield a final deal. On Saturday, Colombia’s government and FARC rebels announced they had reached a deal on demining. Negotiators seeking to end the more than five-decade guerrilla war at the talks in Havana are under growing international pressure to guarantee justice for crimes committed during the conflict.

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