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CONGRESS PRESIDENT ASKS FARC TO EXTEND CEASEFIRE; POSSIBLE DMZ FOR THE ELN

Date Reported: Monday, January 10, 2000
Incident Type: SECURITY
Country: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA

Incident: The president of the Colombian Congress asked the nation's largest leftist rebel group to extend a holiday ceasefire for six months, one day before the unilateral ceasefire is due to end, Colombian National Radio reported. Miguel Pinedo made the public address on January 9th, stating, "in the name of Colombians, I ask this group to extend the truce for six months, because now the country is pessimistic about the peace process after the terrorist acts."

Pinedo also urged Colombia's other rebel and paramilitary groups to end their hostilities. "If we lived in peace, we could create many jobs, build many schools, health centers and water lines, and have a highly literate population," Pinedo said.

Colombian Defense Minister Luis Ramirez, Roman Catholic Church leaders, human rights advocates and union leaders have all joined in the calls for FARC to extend the ceasefire.

President Andres Pastrana had asked FARC to declare a ceasefire for the Christmas and New Year's holidays. FARC came through with a promise of a three-week ceasefire -- due to end Monday -- and Pastrana has said that he was pleased with the result.

But army commander Jorge Nora said that FARC failed to follow through on the ceasefire, as the guerrillas "continued killing soldiers and unarmed civilians and blackmailing Colombians." An army spokesman said the military was on its highest level of alert and "ready to neutralize any attack" by FARC guerrillas.

Police and soldiers were also stationed along the nation's highways to protect tourists who were returning from the Caribbean coast and other vacation spots where they had spent the holidays, the spokesman said.

Calls for an extended truce come as FARC and government negotiators are set to resume peace talks. The next meeting, scheduled for January 13th, will focus on prioritizing the talks' wide-ranging 12-point agenda, which includes economic, political and social reforms, human rights, modernization of the armed forces, international relations and the fight against drug traffickers.

Pastrana has also opened separate, parallel negotiations with the second-largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN). Reportedly, the Pastrana administration is considering striking an agreement with the ELN to declare a demilitarized zone in southern Bolivar Department. According to press reports, Colombia's attorney general has already approached the mayors of several municipalities to discuss the implementation of a DMZ accord.

Nonetheless, a recent poll by Caracol television found that only 36 percent of about 1,504 people polled felt comfortable with Pastrana's handling of peace negotiations with the rebels, unemployment and corruption. Eighty percent believed the president was making a mistake in negotiating with FARC and ELN, and 70 percent dismissed his attempts at curbing widespread corruption in government.