FARC and Colombian Government to Sign New Peace Deal Thursday

A new peace accord between Colombia's government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia is set to be signed Thursday and sent to Congress for approval, both sides announced Tuesday, bringing a formal end to the 52-year conflict ever closer.

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The revised document will be signed at 11:00 am local time in the Colon Theater in the capital of Bogota between FARC leader Timoleon Jimenez and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.

"We have the unique opportunity to close this painful chapter in our history that has bereaved and afflicted millions of Colombians for half a century," the president said in a televised address that followed a meeting between the peace delegations.

The meeting took up the surge of paramilitary activity and the numerous assassinations of rural leaders in recent days and months, which has raised concerns among human rights organizations and the FARC rebels.

In a joint communique, the parties said, "The consolidation of peace requires that we advance with firm steps towards the implementation of the agreements, which will allow us to overcome so many years of conflict in Colombia."

The government and the FARC have been engaged in talks in Havana, Cuba for the last four years, hammering out a deal to end a conflict that has killed more than 220,000 and displaced millions in the Andean country.

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The government published the revised peace deal last week in a bid to build support after the original draft was rejected in an Oct. 2 referendum, after a deceitful campaign by right-wing former President Alvaro Uribe.

The decision to ratify the revised accord in Congress instead of holding another referendum goes against Uribe's wish.

"This new accord possibly won't satisfy everybody, but that's what happens in peace accords. There are always critical voices; it is understandable and respectable," said Santos, warning another plebiscite could divide the nation and put in danger the bilateral cease-fire.

The expanded and highly technical 310-page document appears to make only small modifications to the original text, such as clarifying private property rights and detailing more fully how the rebels would be confined in rural areas for crimes committed during the war.