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Colombia's FARC leader halts rebel combat training

8,000-strong fighting force is to dedicate its time to political and cultural activities s

A child cries as he point at a portrait on a banner depicting disappeared people during a demo of the “Madres de la Candelaria” (Candlemas Mothers) --a social movement that makes public denunciations of forced disappearances in Colombia. Photograph: Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images
A child cries as he point at a portrait on a banner depicting disappeared people during a demo of the “Madres de la Candelaria” (Candlemas Mothers) --a social movement that makes public denunciations of forced disappearances in Colombia. Photograph: Raul Arboleda/AFP/Getty Images
Fri Oct 02 2015 - 10:17

The leader of Colombia’s Marxist FARC rebels ordered a halt to combat training of its fighters on Thursday, a move Colombia’s president Juan Manuel Santos said would help the push toward a complete ceasefire as the two sides negotiate peace.

“Let’s go for peace,” Rodrigo Londono, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), said on Twitter. He said his 8,000-strong fighting force would dedicate its time to political and cultural activities and cease military exercises.

Last week, at a historic meeting in the Cuban capital Havana, the Colombian government and FARC leadership resolved one of the most significant hurdles to peace by agreeing to create special tribunals to try former combatants.

Mr Santos and Mr Londono, a veteran rebel known by his nom de guerre Timochenko, shook hands on the accord, hailed as the final push toward an end to the five-decade conflict.

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The centre-right Colombian president Santos welcomed Mr Londono’s announcement as a positive demonstration that the two sides are on the right path.

“We should negotiate as quickly as possible the bilateral ceasefire,” Mr Santos told reporters in New York.

This peace process has gone further than previous attempts to end the war. Partial deals have already been reached on land reform, the FARC’s political participation and ending the illegal drugs trade. The rebels began a unilateral ceasefire in July.

The sides are now in the final phase as they debate ending hostilities that have killed almost half a million people.

Mr Santos recently ordered a halt to air raids against FARC rebel camps but previously bristled at a complete ceasefire until peace is signed. He is now working toward a bilateral ceasefire.