Ex-Colombia rebel urges armed groups to support government
A former Colombian rebel leader who now heads a political party has addressed the U.N. Security Council for the first time
Edith M. Lederer
5 hours ago
Colombia UN (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
Addressing the U.N. Security Council for the first time, a former Colombian rebel leader who now heads a political party urged the country’s remaining armed groups Thursday to recognize left-wing President Gustavo Petro’s government as “democratic and progressive” and stop fighting against it.
Rodrigo Londoño accused Petro’s right-wing predecessor, Ivan Duque, of failing to implement the 2016 peace agreement with his rebel group, the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia known as the FARC. That accord was aimed at ending more than 50 years of war in Colombia that caused over 220,000 deaths and displaced nearly 6 million people.
But Londoño told the council in a video briefing that Petro’s electoral victory in 2022 brought in a progressive government committed to “political and social transformations,” including comprehensively implementing the peace agreement.
“We trust his word and we hope that his decisive action” will move implementation forward, he said.
Londoño, who told ambassadors he joined the FARC as a 16-year-old in 1976 and was its last commander who signed the 2016 peace deal, said dissident FARC members who took up arms after the government failed to occupy regions abandoned by rebels after they laid down their weapons represent “a miniscule percentage of those who first signed the agreement.”
More:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/ap-united-nations-ivan-duque-bogota-mexico-city-b2319479.html
