Colombia extends ceasefire with ELN rebels for six months

Colombia’s government agreed to extend a ceasefire with the National Liberation Army (ELN), the nation’s largest remaining armed rebel group, for six months.

“There is already an agreement. Now the government needs to issue the decree so they (ELN) can give the order for a ceasefire,” said the High Commissioner for Peace, Otty Patino, speaking Tuesday from the Colombian Pacific, where President Gustavo Petro’s Cabinet moved to work this week.

The agreement represents an extension of the ceasefire signed between the government and the guerrilla group on August 3 last year.

Although the first six months of the ceasefire have resulted in a reduction in violence, the agreement has been at risk, especially after the kidnapping in October by the guerrillas of Manuel Diaz, the father of Liverpool soccer player Luis Diaz.

The guerrillas finally freed him after 12 days of captivity. Luis’s mother was also abducted but was freed within hours.

The government has been emphatic in demanding the freedom of the rest of the people who remain hostage, and it is estimated that around 30 people remain kidnapped by the rebel group.

The ELN has said that it will only stop kidnapping when it receives financing.

​​After more than a year of talks that have taken place in Cuba, Venezuela and Mexico, the Colombian government and guerrilla delegations began the sixth cycle of peace talks this week in Havana.

Last week, Petro nominated Vatican City as the venue for the next round of peace talks with the ELN after meeting with Pope Francis in Rome.

The talks have suffered other setbacks, including Petro’s December 31 announcement about a six-month ceasefire with the ELN, which the guerrilla group denied three days later.

The agreement is part of Petro’s "total peace" policy, an attempt to demobilise all of the country's remaining rebel groups to resolve a conflict dating back to the 1960s.