Colombia Peace Talks Turn to Reparations for Victims
Peace talks between the Colombian government and leftist guerrilla group FARC resumed Tuesday, focused on the delicate topic of dealing with the 5.3 million victims of the 50-year-old conflict.
Reparations for victims is one of the most sensitive items on the six-point agenda for the talks in Havana, since each side blames the other for violence that has killed 220,000 people and caused more than five million others to flee their homes.
"This matter is very important because it is going to hand us the keys to clear the path toward the reconciliation of the Colombian family," the rebel group's chief negotiator, Ivan Marquez, told journalists as the talks got under way.
The peace negotiations, which started in November 2012, will reach one of their most dramatic moments on Saturday when the first of 60 victims begin testifying on their experiences, an exercise aimed at making both sides weigh the reparations requested by those affected by the conflict.
The two sides have reached deals on three points of the six-point agenda: land reform, political participation for the rebels and fighting the drug trafficking that has fueled the conflict.
The other points left to address are disarmament and the mechanism by which the final peace deal will be adopted.
Founded in 1964, the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) today has about 8,000 fighters and is the largest of the guerrilla groups waging Latin America's longest-running armed conflict.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has made peace deals with the FARC and fellow rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN) his top political priority.
He took the oath of office last week for a second four-year term vowing to finally end the conflict, after an election campaign widely viewed as a referendum on the peace process.
Source: Agence France Presse
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