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News > Latin America

FARC Begins Disarmament Despite Bumpy Peace Process

  • Members of the 51st Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) patrol in the remote mountains of Colombia, Aug. 16, 2016.

    Members of the 51st Front of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) patrol in the remote mountains of Colombia, Aug. 16, 2016. | Photo: Reuters

Published 1 March 2017
Opinion

Despite a series of setbacks on the road to peace, the FARC has begun its disarmament process.

In a major step for implementing peace in Colombia, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, announced that it will adhere to Wednesday’s deadline to start disarmament, despite concerns from the group that the Colombian government was not holding up its end of the deal.

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As part of the historic peace treaty signed in November, the FARC is required to disarm in stages, with weapons surrendered in disarmament camps across the country. Starting March 1, FARC rebels are expected to lay down 30 percent of their arms in disarmament camps where surrendered troops will transition back into civilian life.

Monitoring of the disarmament process will be overseen by observers from the U.N. mission in Colombia, the Colombian government and the FARC, who will start identifying and registering weapons within the camps. Given that the FARC never kept accurate records of weapons, it remains uncertain how much would make up the 30 percent quota.

The U.N. mission in Colombia confirmed that the disarmament process had started and welcomed the news that the process had begun on time. A spokeswoman from the mission Carolina Azevedo said that there was no date put on when the 30 percent quota would be met.

According to the peace deal, the FARC should be completely disarmed by June 1, but there has been a number of setbacks for disarmament and disagreements from both sides, particularly over disarmament zones.

The FARC has repeatedly voiced its concerns over the protection of around 7,000 of its members while stationed in the camps, many of whom have outstanding arrest warrants.

Last week, the rebel group asked the United Nations to push back the deadline because the disarmament camps were not yet ready and up to standard with the guidelines set out in the peace deal.

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FARC members only starting moving into the demobilization zones in late February, later than was originally planned. FARC rebels were concerned with camps lacking basic services, such as water and electricity. The group has also remained skeptical of how weapons would be surrendered and where containers full of weapons would be located.

The U.N. mission had also voiced its concern that the Colombian government needs to better implement parts of the peace deal. The government, however, has accused the mission of not knowing the real situation on the ground and failing to prepare the weapons containers.

“Despite obvious delays in the logistical adaptation of the zones, we will carry out the registration of weapons in all the camps,” FARC leader and one of the key negotiators for peace, Ivan Marquez, said in a press conference.

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