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29/03/2005 | Colombia Confirms Preliminary Peace Meeting with Lesser Rebels

WMRC Staff

Mexico is to host a meeting between the National Liberation Army (ELN), Colombia's second-largest leftist rebel group, and officials from the South American country, launching an initiative towards establishing a peace process, Colombia's High Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo has confirmed to local press.

 

Significance

This is the closest that the ELN rebels have come to entering peace negotiations for some time, but the process is far from guaranteed.

Implications

Mexico's pivotal role in bringing about the anticipated talks is a reassuring development, given that international assistance and support is a prerequisite if Colombia is to make further progress in bringing its armed conflict to an end.

Outlook

Securing a solid peace process with the ELN will take time but its ultimate success would assist Colombian authorities in focussing on the more serious threat posed by the largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Small Steps on the Thorny Path to Peace

Colombian officials are due to hold talks soon with leading members of the extreme-leftist ELN group in Mexico, aimed at initiating a peace process. Confirmation of preliminary negotiations, made by Colombian High Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo during the holy week celebrations, demonstrates that the administration is continuing its strategy of freeing up its forces to concentrate on the greater threat posed by the country's largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Rightist paramilitaries, organised under the United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), have been in discussions with the Alvaro Uribe government since December 2002 and, despite ongoing difficulties and widespread criticism of the government's handling of the process, it remains in motion. The decommissioning of some 3,500 former fighters to date is its most obvious success.

Contact between the ELN leadership and the Uribe government was made official in June last year but relations with ELN rebels deteriorated last month when President Uribe labelled chief guerrilla Antonio García a 'saboteur of peace' . This accusation came after several negotiation offers tabled by the Uribe administration were rejected by the ELN. Now, the normally reticent Restrepo is asserting that both sides are 'moving toward a peace process'. 

Maintaining Mexican Mediation 

Helping to broker a deal, Mexico's government continues to act as a go-between. Traditional sympathies and subsequently strong relations between the Mexican state and Communist Cuba, founded in the North American country's revolutionary past, make Mexico an acceptable intermediary between Colombia's government and leftist insurgent forces. As the forthcoming meeting was announced, Colombia's peace chief acknowledged 'the effective assistance of Mexico' while calling for wider 'international assistance once this new effort for national peace is realised'. Meanwhile, the FARC called for a 'new group of friends', such as Brazil and Spain, to help bring an end to Colombia's crisis via a statement from guerrilla group spokesman Raúl Reyes, emailed to Brazilian daily Jornal do Brasil. Reviving demands for peace talks brokered by the United Nations (UN), the FARC's mouthpiece denied allegations that his organisation had provided campaign funds for the Worker's Party of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva . Concurrently, ELN rebels have appealed to international sympathisers, penning an appeal to the left-leaning leaders of Spain and Venezuela - José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and Hugo Chávez respectively - as well as their Brazilian counterpart, to help bring peace to Colombia and promote a democracy where 'social justice is possible'.

Outlook and Implications

Maintaining a reputation as a hardliner, Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe has proved himself open to compromise in his bid to bring the country's protracted conflict to a close. Opening early-stage talks with the ELN is a significant achievement but an incipient peace process is by no means guaranteed. The Colombian leader continues to call for a unilateral ceasefire as a prerequisite for progress, while the leftist group is demanding the release of strategic prisoners and the negotiation of a bilateral ceasefire. Without winning such concessions, Colombian authorities will continue to suffer the drain on resources represented by the smaller leftist group, which prevents a full scale onslaught against FARC fighters. Military and intelligence initiatives have scored real successes against the FARC, including the capture of leading figures from the organisation, but it has once again begun to scale up its attacks against the state, causing scores of deaths so far this year. The FARC has demonstrated no inclination to dialogue thus far, making a military response the only real option. However, with funds flowing in from the lucrative illegal drugs trade, the leftist rebels will remain able to fight back for the foreseeable future.

WMRC (Reino Unido)

 


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