FARC to Colombia Govt: Halting Paramilitaries is Key to Peace

FARC representatives negotiating a peace deal with the Colombian government in Havana, Cuba said on Sunday that it will be “impossible” to bring an end to 50 years of armed conflict without dealing head-on with ongoing paramilitary activity in the country.

Solving the situation of active and resurging paramilitary forces, which the FARC and peace activists have recently condemned for threatening to unravel the peace process, is an essential precondition to achieving a final peace agreement, according to the rebel leadership.

“It is a very high risk to end the armed conflict with insurgents while paramilitary groups still remain and grow,” said FARC rebel Pablo Catatumbo in statement in Havana regarding the FARC’s proposal to address paramilitarism as part of achieving “historical truth” and avoiding further conflict.

Esclarecimiento del paramilitarismo es una condición necesaria #Colombia https://t.co/SKGIrLURCv pic.twitter.com/GLx9gMedH1

— Diálogos Paz FARC (@FARC_EPaz) November 29, 2015

“Addressing paramilitarism is a necessary condition.”

The FARC proposal included five initiatives detailing why solving the paramilitary situation is crucial to a peace deal, justice for victims, and the transition of the rebel movement from an armed guerrilla group to a sanctioned political organization. The proposal also recommends the creation of a commission of experts to focus on addressing and dismantling paramilitary activity in the country and putting forward “urgent” recommendations to the government.

IN DEPTH: The Colombian Peace Process Explained

The FARC called for action on paramilitarism as an “ethical and political imperative” in the peace process.

The Colombian government and the FARC have committed to signing a final agreement by late March 2016, which would bring an end to over five-decades of armed conflict in the country.

ANALYSIS: Colombia's Justice Deal Between FARC, Government

Colombia’s peace negotiations have been ongoing since 2012. The process seeks an end to over 50 years of armed conflict involving guerrilla groups, paramilitaries, state security forces and drug traffickers that has left some 220,000 dead and 6 million displaced.

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