Colombia leader says peace talks to start with rebel group
Source: Associated Press
Joshua Goodman, Associated Press Updated 4:54 pm, Wednesday, January 18, 2017
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia's second-largest rebel group has agreed to free a prominent politician held captive for almost a year, clearing the way for repeatedly postponed peace talks to begin next month, President Juan Manuel Santos said Wednesday.
Santos said from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that details of the agreement hammered out during months of agonizing backchannel talks with the National Liberation Army would be announced at a press conference later Wednesday in Quito, Ecuador.
The two sides have been holding exploratory peace talks for more than three years. Almost a year ago they announced the start of formal negotiations, but those talks were frozen before even getting off the ground over Santos' demand the group renounce kidnapping and free the politician it has been holding for 10 months.
"This is very, very good news for the country," said Santos, who won last year's Nobel Peace Prize for reaching a peace deal with the much-larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. "We have been trying to start these official negotiations for over three years. It has been a very difficult process. But this second stage that starts next month is very important because it will allow us to have complete peace."
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/world/article/Colombia-leader-says-peace-talks-to-start-with-10865843.php
