Negotiators of Colombia’s government and guerrilla organization EMC announced a ceasefire and formal peace talks that will begin on October 8.
The peace talks between the government of President Gustavo Petro and the country’s largest FARC dissident group will take place in the Catatumbo region.
The negotiators announced that the peace talks will be accompanied by a bilateral ceasefire that will last until August 8 next year.
A six-month ceasefire that was agreed to facilitate preliminary talks expired on July 1.
The ceasefire will be monitored by a multipartite commission that will be presided by the United Nations’ mission in Colombia.
The ceasefire agreement is similar to the one agreed between the government and guerrilla group ELN, which took force in August.
The Petro administration has been pursuing peace talks with Colombia’s guerrilla and paramilitary organizations since taking office in August last year.
The EMC was formed in 2016 by guerrillas who dissented from the now-guerrilla group FARC over a peace deal with former President Juan Manuel Santos.
The organization has since grown to an estimated 3,000 members who are mainly active in former FARC territory in the south of Colombia.