Reuters (with additional material by AP). 20 January 2002. Colombia, FARC Agree on Cease - Fire Timeline.
BOGOTA -- The Colombian government and Marxist FARC rebels on Sunday agreed to begin discussing a cease-fire in the country's 38-year war, averting a threatened army offensive hours before a midnight deadline. In a 12-point communique read by the government's peace commissioner, Camilo Gomez, and FARC senior commander Raul Reyes, the two sides announced they will "immediately" launch talks aimed at signing a cease-fire agreement by April 7. Negotiators also agreed to study an end to rebel roadside kidnappings and government efforts to crack down on right-wing militias. Ending violence by a brutal right-wing paramilitary group would be part and parcel of the cease-fire negotiations. It also calls for the participation of an international verification commission, which would also "overcome complications." The agreement was reached after more than eight hours of meetings, deep in the rebel safe haven, in which diplomats from 10 countries and representatives of the United Nations and the Vatican participated as "facilitators." The agreement was signed by the rebels and the government chief negotiator less than four hours before President Andres Pastrana was to decide whether to cancel a safe haven he ceded to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, three years ago. Pastrana, who spent Sunday in his presidential palace in Bogota with his ministers awaiting the results of Sunday's meeting, had no immediate comment. After the agreement was finally reached, chief government negotiator Camilo Gomez and the envoys toasted the accord with a drink of rum. Cuba's ambassador handed out cigars to government officials, gun-toting rebels and diplomats. "This is good news for Colombia," declared U.N. special envoy James LeMoyne. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews
