ELN: Colombian Government Seeks to Change Ceasefire Agreement

The National Liberation Army (ELN) on Monday reported important points linked to the bilateral, temporary and national ceasefire, as well as the Verification and Verification Mechanism (MVV), are being modified by Colombian Government seeking to renegotiate the agreements agreed upon already.

"After signing the bilateral ceasefire agreement with the government, the government has tried to change the spirit of what was agreed upon and renegotiate the agreed agreements," they said in the Twitter account of the National Free Homeland Radio ELN.

RELATED:
 Six Human Rights Activists Killed in Cauca, Colombia

In a series of messages, they explained some of the actions carried out by the Government of Colombia against the insurgent group, despite the process of dialogue between both parties to establish peace in the South American country.

"The Government has unilaterally launched offensive operations against the ELN, and on October 27 and 30, 2017, it carried out attacks on two camps in the departments of Chocó and Norte de Santander," they reported.

They also indicated that the State has increased its military takeover, registration and control operations in areas where its forces remain. 

"The Government has ignored the Monitoring and Verification Mechanism, as the body that must comply with the objective of preventing incidents, responding in a timely and agile way to eventualities or contingencies and reporting and qualifying incidents," they said.

In another tweet, they assured that the central government has ignored the main purpose of the ceasefire, "to improve the humanitarian situation of the population," and reduced the agreement only to "the suspension of armed actions between the parties."

In this regard, the ELN reiterated its willingness to comply with the ceasefire until January 9, but insisted on not participating in the MVV "until the disagreements between the parties are resolved".