Colombia’s state has failed to comply with a peace deal signed with FARC guerrillas in November last year, the United Nations said in its harshest condemnation yet.
While more than 7,000 FARC fighters have been certified for complying with their demobilization and disarmament, the government has failed to facilitate their successful reincorporation, UN mission chief Jean Arnault said Monday.
A “deficiency” in government compliance has caused the desertion of FARC guerrillas who had complied with their commitment to demobilize and disarm, Arnault said.
Jean Arnault (center) is the UN official who reports directly to the Security Council. (Image credit: United Nations)
US claims not confirmed by UN observers
The United States recently claimed the FARC had violated the peace deal, accusing the disarmed guerrilla group of ongoing involvement in drug trafficking.
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The American accusation was not confirmed by the United Nations’ peace chief.
Community meeting with UN representative in Sinai, a township in the central Meta province. (Image credit: United Nations)
No shelter, no containers, no reincorporation
The alleged government’ failure to comply is such that a year after a ceasefire only few of the camps in which the former guerrillas are supposed to be housed have been finished.
The verification and monitoring mechanism acknowledges that to date six of 26 camps have been finished. This means that the logistical, financial and organizational support for this process has been deficient.
UN mission chief Jean Arnault
Unfinished FARC camp in February. (Image credit: United Nations)
How to promote desertion
The UN chief criticized the government’s failures as spurring desertion among former guerrillas whose faith in the peace process has been put to the test.
We have a high number of fighters who have honored their commitment to abandon arms and feel deeply frustrated about what they expected in regards to their future security and their socioeconomic future.
UN mission chief Jean Arnault
The government failures are leading to an increased desertion of fighters who in some cases are running out of food without the ability to generate legal income.
Former FARC guerrillas abandoning peace process ahead of reincorporation
The phenomena of desertion and dissidence, in our judgement, tarnish the general success the ceasefire and the disarmament have had.
UN mission chief Jean Arnault
Government under international scrutiny
The UN’s criticism came two days after President Juan Manuel Santos reported that the government had supported seven collective reincorporation projects.
The army general in charge of the peace process resigned hours before the UN released its harshest judgement on the alleged state failure to comply.
General in charge of Colombia’s transition to peace resigns
The Colombian military and civilian authorities have been preparing the FARC’s demobilization, disarmament and reintegration since August 2014.
President Juan Manuel Santos called a meeting of the National Reincorporation Council over the weekend. (Image credit: President’s Office)
A long list of deficiencies
When the FARC fighters presented themselves at the camps for demobilization in December last year, the camps had not been finished. Also the guerrillas’ disarmament was delayed after the government failed to provide the containers to store abandoned arms.
The security forces have come under fire for failing to effectively assume control in territories abandoned by the FARC, allowing other illegal armed groups to fill the power vacuum.
Colombia’s state failing to comply with FARC peace deal: mediator
The leadership of the FARC, which has since become a political party, has fiercely criticized the government for failing to provide the means for collective reincorporation programs like farming or fishing projects that would prevent guerrillas from deserting.
The guerrillas demobilized some 14,000 men and women in an attempt to end more than half a century of armed conflict between the state and the Marxist rebels.
The United Nations recently commenced a second monitoring mission in Colombia to oversee the government’s compliance to the FARC’s reincorporation into society.
