Peace talks between Colombia’s government and the left-wing guerrilla group ELN will begin in May, according to the rebel group. The rebels did not announce a date and the government has yet to confirm the claim.
Both parties made an official announcement of the formalization of talks on March 30, but no date for the commencement of the talks was clarified.
Profile
ELN
However, following the announcement both parties went quiet about what and when the next step will be until the guerrilla group took to Twitter to announce that “in May the public table will be installed in Ecuador.”
However, the administration of President Juan Manuel Santos did not confirm the claim and neither party said anything about the exact date the talks would begin, indicating that this is not yet fully agreed on.
The sides had been in exploratory talks for more than two years. These talks were made known to the public in June 2014, five days before the presidential elections, after which it took more than a year and a half to announce formal talks.
“The agreement that begins the public phase of talks to agree an end to the armed conflict is the result of the hard efforts of the delegations of both parties and the valuable contributions of guarantor countries: Ecuador, Venezuela, Brazil and Norway, and the accompanying Chile and Cuba,” said the ELN.
The parties had made it clear that the dialogue will be held in Ecuador and workshops in Venezuela , Chile , Brazil and Cuba would take place with Norway being guarantors of the process no more definitive details were published since the March 30 announcement.
The talks in May seek a negotiated agreement to end a 51-year-conflict between the Marxist-inspired rebels and Colombia’s government.