Colombia negotiators agree UN observer mission to monitor end of civil war

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Colombia negotiators agree UN observer mission to monitor end of civil war

12-month mission will monitor ceasefire and demobilisation of Farc

Optimism that March deadline for overall agreement may be within reach

Associated Press in Havana
Tuesday 19 January 2016 15.46 EST

Colombia’s government and the country’s largest rebel group have marked another milestone in their rapidly advancing peace talks, with a joint request that the United Nations establish an international observer mission to monitor a disarmament process that could in a matter of weeks end Latin America’s longest-running guerrilla conflict.

Negotiators for the two sides announced at peace talks in Havana that the 12-month mission would be made up of unarmed observers from Latin American and Caribbean nations. It would monitor adherence to an eventual bilateral ceasefire and resolve disputes that emerge from the expected demobilisation of some 7,000 fighters belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

A formula for the rebels’ demobilisation and handing over of their weapons remains to be negotiated.

But in calling on the UN to begin preparing for the observers’ deployment, analysts say both sides are signaling that a March deadline to wrap up talks, which some had viewed as overly optimistic, could be within reach.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/19/colombia-negotiators-agree-un-observer-mission-to-monitor-end-of-civil-war