NEWS CENTER – The ceasefire agreement between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the left-wing government came into effect. The ceasefire announced by the ELN came just days before Gustavo Petro turned his first year as president. Petro assumed the presidency on August 7, 2022.
Petro, himself a former guerrilla, hopes to achieve “complete peace” in the country. With the ceasefire, it is hoped that the first step towards a peace agreement with the guerrilla movement, which has been going on for more than 60 years, will be taken.
Seven years ago, at the end of 2022, a historic peace deal was signed with the country’s largest guerrilla movement, the FARC. The ELN is gaining importance as the last major guerrilla movement that did not lay down arms.
The first round of talks started in 2017 between then-president Juan Manuel Santos and the ELN. However, this dialogue process was interrupted by the election of conservative Ivan Duque as president in 2019. Duque was also against the deal with the FARC.
Gustavo Petro, on the other hand, reopened the dialogue with the ELN as the first thing as soon as he was elected. Currently, it is estimated that the ELN has around 2500 male and female guerrillas.
UN truce will heed
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also hailed the agreement between the government and the ELN in a written statement. “By honoring the ceasefire in good faith and committing to alleviating civilian suffering, we can significantly reduce violence as the parties build confidence at the peace table,” Guterres said.
Stating that the UN is ready to support the peace efforts in Coombia, Guterres said, “According to the mandate given to it by the Security Council yesterday, the verification mission is ready to play the role of monitoring and verifying the ceasefire.”
Guterres added that the United Nations is also ready to support “the fundamental work of the National Engagement Committee to facilitate the participation of the Colombian community in the peace process”. The Security Council voted unanimously on Wednesday to extend the mandate of the UN Verification Mission in Colombia to monitor the ceasefire between the government and the ELN.
The UN Mission was created after the signing of a peace agreement between Colombian authorities and FARC leaders in 2016 that ended the war.
