Colombia’s last rebel group begins truce amid hopes of lasting peace

The initial ceasefire between the National Liberation Army rebels and government forces, which began at midnight Saturday, is set to extend until January 9.

There were no immediate reports of violations as of midday Sunday.

“As in every truce there is the risk of incidents, but the two sides are very mature and the orders that have been given are very explicit and show that the will for peace is real,” Victor de Currea Lobo, an expert on the insurgency, told AFP.

The truce is the most important achievement yet from peace talks carried out since February in neighboring Ecuador by negotiators for the rebels and the Colombian government of President Juan Manuel Santos. The talks aim to end the longest armed conflict in the Americas.

“Starting at this moment, and as our Commander Nicolas Rodriguez said, the ELN will fully implement the bilateral ceasefire,” the rebel group wrote on Twitter just after midnight Saturday.

Rodriguez earlier ordered his troops to “cease all types of offensive activities to fully comply with the bilateral ceasefire” starting at 0501 GMT Sunday.

The Colombian armed forces were ordered to suspend operations against the guerrillas at the same time.

President Santos said he hoped the truce could serve as a “first step to achieving peace” with the rebel group.

The government last year reached a peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels, the oldest and most powerful guerrilla force in the region, that led to the group surrendering its weapons.

The runup to the truce, however, has been bloody, as ELN rebels attacked security forces and a major oil pipeline, leaving one soldier dead and causing oil spills in rivers near Venezuela.

On Saturday, just hours before the truce took effect, government forces announced that they had killed an ELN commander in northeastern Colombia known as “Carro Loco” (“Mad Car”) in a commando raid.

Separately, three police officers were killed in an ambush in southwestern Colombia, while one of the presumed shooters was also killed. The government initially blamed dissident FARC guerrillas, but ELN rebels have also been active in the region.

– ‘Foolish onslaught’ –

The chief government negotiator, Juan Camilo Restrepo, on Saturday condemned what he called the “foolish onslaught” and said the ELN needed to “keep its commitments” if it wanted to erase its “bad image.”

The rebels have killed or wounded 47 members of the security forces since January, according to Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas.

The ceasefire agreed by the ELN, which has 1,500 fighters by official count, goes beyond the strictly military.

The rebels also agreed to halt attacks on oil facilities, to stop all hostage-taking, to suspend recruitment of minors and to stop planting explosives.

For its part, the government promised to improve prison conditions for 450 rebels and to strengthen protections for human-rights leaders, 190 of whom have died in attacks since January 2016, according to the government ombudsman.

Monitors from the United Nations, the government, the rebels and the Catholic Church will verify compliance on the ground and seek to resolve any disagreements.

Jorge Restrepo, of the Conflict Analysis Resource Center, said the truce could be more fragile than the earlier one with the FARC because the ELN has a looser command structure.

“The ceasefire is precariously structured and defined,” he told the AFP.

A fourth round of peace talks is set for October 23 in the Ecuadoran capital of Quito.

The FARC and ELN formed in 1964 to fight for land rights and protect rural communities. The conflict drew in leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitary groups and state forces and left 260,000 people dead, more than 60,000 missing and seven million displaced.