The Colombian armed group, Comunes del sur (southern commoners), presented war equipment and signed two agreements with President Gustavo Petro, the two parties said on Saturday.
“It’s a historic moment,” said Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez during a ceremony in the city of Pasto in the Andean southwest region.
He said that in the past two days, the group had given terrestrial mines, grenades and rockets to an army unit which destroys them.
“We consider that the armed fight is obsolete, that there are new times and new needs. We refuse to return to war,” said Royer Garzon, one of the group’s leaders.
The move opens the way to possible disarmament and reintegration in the civil life of some 300 Comuns del on rebels.
Until last May, the Comuns DEL sur were part of the National left Liberation Army (ELN), which has around 6,000 fighters and still fights the Colombian government.
When the Comuneros DEL on separated from the ELN and started the peace talks with the Petro administration, he angry the management of the ELN and blocked his negotiations with the Colombian government.
Difficult peace process in Colombia
In 2016, Colombia signed a peace agreement with the largest rebellious group in the country, the Revolutionary Armed Forces in Colombia (FARC), in which more than 13,000 combatants lay down arms.
But the withdrawal of the FARC from certain rural areas has created a power vacuum that small groups tried to fill.
The Petro government has organized peace talks with nine different rebel groups and drug trafficking gangs in Colombia in a strategy known as “total peace”.
Most of these negotiations have failed to reduce violence, and so far, only the Comunes del sur have agreed to start a transition to civil life.
The Colombian government is now struggling to ensure security in remote rural areas where different groups are fighting on drug trafficking and natural resources, while forcibly recruiting minors and taxing local businesses to collect funds.
Published by: ZAC Crellin
