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06-09-2023
BOGOTA: Despite the progressive peace talks between two guerilla groups to end the decades-long fighting in the country, as many as nine people were dead leaving five others injured after deadly fighting erupted in Colombia, officials said Monday.
The fighting took place between the dissidents of the disarmed FARC and the National Liberation Army (ELN), the governor of the eastern Arauca department said.
It was not made clear whether the dead and injured were civilians.
On Monday, Colombia’s last recognized guerrilla group ELN wrapped up a fourth round of discussion with the government in Venezuela, announcing an agreement on humanitarian aid for conflict-hit areas.
Just after the talks ended, ELN fighters were reported to have been engaged in fighting with members of the dissident so-called Central General Staff (EMC) in the municipality of Puerto Rondon near the Venezuela border since the weekend.
Talks with the ELN form part of leftist President Gustavo Petr’s stated quest for “total peace” in Colombia, which also envisions negotiations with FARC dissidents.
The country has seen more than five decades of conflict between the government on one side, and leftist guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, drug cartels and other criminal groups on the other.
The Arauca department, a hub for the trafficking of cocaine and illegally mined minerals due to a paucity of security forces, has been the scene of repeated violent confrontations.
In Caracas, the government and the ELN said they had identified “critical zones” to benefit from humanitarian relief.
“We have reached new agreements that move us closer to the peace desired by all,” government negotiator Otty Patino said.
For his part, ELN leader Pablo Beltran said the identified areas have suffered “attacks against communities” caught up in the fighting.
It was not immediately clear who will be providing the humanitarian aid.
The so-called Caracas agreement identifies two communities Bajo Calima and San Juan in the eastern Cauca Valley as areas to receive urgent attention.
Under the plan, the zones will benefit from “humanitarian actions” and “social development projects,” according to the text.
It added that in the coming weeks, “delegations will travel to the territories” to start identifying projects. (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
