The Red Cross on Thursday entered FARC controlled area in the southwest of Colombia to receive two policemen who were captured by rebels earlier this month.
The armed forces have ceased military activity around Miranda in the Cauca department to provide safe passage to the Red Cross which will retrieve the two policemen, reported W Radio.
MORE: Colombia suspends military operations to make way for hostage release mission
This initial phase of the release process is part of a protocol signed on Wednesday by the Colombian government, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the NGO, Colombians for the Peace (CCP), led by the former Senator Piedad Cordoba.
The humanitarian mission agreed to go on two separate missions; one to retrieve the two policemen, and another to release a soldier captured by the FARC in January.
MORE: Red Cross ready to retrieve policemen, soldier held by FARC
The committee expects that the soldier, who was captured January 30 by the FARC in the Nariño department and is held separately, will be released next Saturday, according to El Espectador.
“It is very complex to negotiate in the middle of the conflict” said Cordoba, “Therefore, with much insistence, we have requested a bilateral truce, this is important because it allows the people to compromise in the exercise of peace.”
The FARC, Colombia’s oldest and largest rebel movement, banned kidnapping for economical and political reason in February last year. It has since held “political prisoners” but these were released within weeks after their kidnapping, apparently without ransom.
The rebel group has been involved in peace talks with the government of President Juan Manuel Santos since late last year. Both parties have expressed their desire to end the armed conflict between rebels and state that has killed tens of thousands and displaced millions over the past decades.
