By Oyintari Ben
The President of Colombia announced that the government of Colombia and the ELN rebel group have made progress in their peace negotiations.
During a trip to Western Antioquia, President Gustavo Petro made the comments.
The safe return of indigenous people who have been uprooted by the violence to their ancestral grounds in the province has been agreed upon by both parties, he said.
Colombia’s conflict has been ongoing for about 60 years.
The remaining rebel organization currently fighting is the left-leaning National Liberation Army (ELN), and no ceasefire has yet been struck.
Following Mr. Petro’s election as the nation’s first left-wing president and an ex-guerrilla himself, negotiations between the two sides were finally reopened last month after more than three years.
Mr. Petro, who was formerly a part of the M-19 guerrilla group, was elected president in August on a platform of “complete peace” to Colombia.
For Colombia, the discussions taking place in the Venezuelan capital city of Caracas are a significant step toward putting an end to the protracted civil war.
As part of the historic 2016 peace agreement with the bigger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) rebel organization, previous negotiations with the ELN failed.
The ELN has roughly 2,500 members, and it is alleged that it obtains funding through illegal mining and drug trafficking.
Cuba, Norway, and Venezuela have all committed to co-sponsor the peace effort.
The ELN delegation’s Pablo Beltrán said: “We cannot regard each other as enemies; the task we have is reconciliation” as the discussions resumed.
Danilo Rueda, Colombia’s High Commissioner for Peace has previously stated that “human dignity” must be the main topic of the peace talks in order to remove the threat of murder or kidnapping.
