President Suspends Talks With Rebels. ========================== The Colombian President has suspended talks with the country's second-biggest rebel group. Andres Pastrana called the leftist guerrillas "obstinate" for failing to move the peace process forward. The announcement came as representatives of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, and the Colombian government met in neighbouring Venezuela. Mr Pastrana said negotiators were on the verge of establishing the ground rules for formal peace talks when ELN officials made new demands and rejected a series of new government proposals. "Faced with the obstinate position of the National Liberation Army to keep the process frozen, I've decided to suspend the talks," Mr Pastrana said in a nationally televised speech at a military academy in Bogota. Mr Pastrana, who was elected in 1998, pledged to open talks to end Colombia's civil war, now in its 37th year. Talks with the bigger Revolutionary Armed Forces, or FARC, began in 1998, but there has been no substantive progress. Soon after taking office, he ceded a Switzerland-sized swath of land to the FARC in an attempt to jump-start negotiations, and had planned to provide a smaller site to the ELN. Both the FARC and the ELN complain that Pastrana's government has done little to rein in right-wing paramilitary forces accused by Colombian and international watchers of the majority of Colombia's human rights violations. ELN officials could not immediately be reached for comment on the decision to suspend the talks. See this story on the web at http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_369489.html ------------------------ "Without a Peoples Army the people have nothing" Mao ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Web: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Peoples_War ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
