UN envoy says ex-combatants in Colombia being killed

[Judi Lynn]

EDITH M. LEDERER,
Associated Press
Oct. 14, 2020
Updated: Oct. 14, 2020 6:22 p.m.



A protester holds a poster with a message that reads in Spanish: "Stop the Genocide," during a demonstration against a wave of massacres, in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Sept. 21, 2020. Rather than a national dispute between guerrillas and the state, violence in rural Colombia is now marked by a patchwork of local feuds between criminal groups who fight over drug routes, illegal mines and even gasoline smuggling routes.Fernando Vergara/AP



UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The U.N. envoy for Colombia called Wednesday for improved protection for former combatants who continue to be killed “in alarming numbers,” and he complained of rising violence and massacres by other groups that have cropped up since the 2016 peace accord.

Carlos Ruiz Massieu told the U.N. Security Council that efforts must also be stepped up to fight impunity for these crimes, “including by bringing intellectual authors to justice.”

“Priority should be given to staffing and resources for the National Protection Unit to clear the backlog of pending requests for protection for former combatants,” he said.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ latest report to the council, circulated last week, said the U.N. political mission in Colombia verified 19 killings of former combatants from the country’s main rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), in the three-month period ending Sept. 25.

More:
https://www.chron.com/news/article/UN-envoy-says-ex-combatants-in-Colombia-being-15648656.php