CARTAGENA, Colombia (Reuters) - Colombia’s center-right government and the Marxist FARC rebel group signed a peace deal on Monday to end a half-century war that killed a quarter of a million people and once took the Andean country to the brink of collapse.

After four years of peace talks in Cuba, President Juan Manuel Santos, 65, and rebel leader Timochenko - the nom de guerre for 57-year-old Rodrigo Londono - warmly shook hands on Colombian soil for the first time and signed the accord with a pen made from a bullet casing.

A crowd of dignitaries chanted: “Long live Colombia, long live peace” as Santos handed Timochenko a white dove pin. One man waved a large Colombian flag that had an extra white stripe in homage to the peace deal.

“The horrible night of violence that has covered us with its shadow for more than half a century is over,” Santos said through tears. “We open our hearts to a new dawn, to a brilliant sun full of possibilities that has appeared in the Colombian sky.”

Colombians will vote on Sunday on whether to ratify the agreement, but opinion polls show it should pass easily.

Attendees at the event, many of whom also wept, observed a minute of silence in memory of those killed, maimed, raped, kidnapped and displaced during the war.

The end of Latin America’s longest-running war will turn the FARC guerrillas into a political party fighting at the ballot box instead of the battlefield they have occupied since 1964.

“No one should doubt that we will conduct politics without arms,” said Timochenko, who asked for forgiveness from FARC victims. “We are all prepared to disarm in our minds and our hearts.”

Guests at the ceremony in the Caribbean coastal city of Cartagena were asked to wear white and included United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Cuban President Raul Castro and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Showing its support for the peace deal, the European Union on Monday removed the FARC from its list of terrorist groups.

Kerry said Washington would also review whether to take the FARC off its terrorism list, and has pledged $390 million for Colombia next year to support the peace process.

“Anybody can pick up a gun, blow things up, hurt other people, but it doesn’t take you anywhere. ... Peace is hard work,” he said of a rare diplomatic good news story for the Obama administration as it contends with the seeming intractable war in Syria and other conflicts.

FIERCE WAR

In the worst days of the war, attacks shook the capital, Bogota, which rebels threatened to overrun, and battles between the guerrillas, paramilitaries, drug gangs and the army raged in the countryside, parts of which remain sown with landmines.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos (L) and Marxist rebel leader Timochenko shake hands after signing an accord ending a half-century war that killed a quarter of a million people, in Cartagena, Colombia September 26, 2016. REUTERS/John Vizcaino

Thousands of civilians were killed in massacres, especially in rural areas, as the warring sides sought to prevent people from collaborating with or supporting enemy forces.

Despite widespread relief at an end to the bloodshed and kidnappings of the past 52 years, the deal has caused divisions within Latin America’s fourth-largest economy.

Former President Alvaro Uribe and others are angry the accord allows rebels to enter parliament without serving any jail time.

In Cartagena on Monday, huge billboards urged a “yes” vote in the referendum, while Uribe led hundreds of supporters with umbrellas in the colors of the Colombian flag urging voters to back “no.”

The FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which began as a peasant revolt, became a big player in the cocaine trade and at its strongest had 20,000 fighters. Now, its some 7,000 fighters must hand over their weapons to the United Nations within 180 days.

Colombians are nervous over how the rebels will integrate into society, but most are optimistic peace will bring more benefits than problems.

“This is the moment, it’s now or never,” said 50-year-old lawyer Melquis Pulecio, as he watched the ceremony with thousands of others on a big screen in central Bogota. “We are tired of this war - we were born to war.”

Colombia has performed better economically than its neighbors in recent years, and peace should reduce the government’s security spending and open new areas of the country for mining and oil companies.

Slideshow (8 Images)

But criminal gangs may try to fill the void in rebel-held areas, landmines hinder development and rural poverty remains a huge challenge.

With peace achieved, Santos, a member of a wealthy Bogota family, will likely use his political capital to push for tax reforms and other measures to compensate for a drop in oil income caused by a fall in energy prices.

“It’s such an important day,” said Duvier, a nom de guerre for a 25-year-old rebel attending a FARC congress last week in the southern Yari Plains that ratified the peace accord. “Now we can fight politically, without blood, without war.” </s> HAVANA (AP) - The commander of Colombia’s biggest rebel movement said Sunday its fighters will permanently cease hostilities with the government beginning with the first minute of Monday, as a result of their peace accord ending one of the world’s longest-running conflicts.

Rodrigo Londono, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), made the announcement in Havana, where the two sides negotiated for four years before announcing the peace deal Wednesday.

“Never again will parents be burying their sons and daughters killed in the war,” said Londono, who is also known as Timoshenko. “All rivalries and grudges will remain in the past.”

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announced on Friday that his military would cease attacks on the FARC beginning Monday.

Colombia is expected to hold a national referendum Oct. 2 to give voters the chance to approve the deal for ending a half-century of political violence that has claimed more than 220,000 lives and driven more than 5 million people from their homes

After the agreement is signed, FARC guerrillas are supposed to begin handing their weapons over to United Nations-sponsored monitors. </s> Image copyright AFP Image caption The Farc has been fighting since 1964 in a conflict that has displaced millions

A ceasefire has come into effect in Colombia between the main leftist rebel group and the government, ending one of the world's longest insurgencies.

The ceasefire at midnight local time (05:00 GMT Monday) came after four years of peace talks in Cuba between the Farc and the government.

The final agreement on ending the 52-year-old war will be signed next month.

Farc leader Rodrigo Londono, known as Timoleon Jimenez or Timochenko, gave the order to stop firing.

"Never again will parents be burying their sons and daughters killed in the war,'' Timochenko told journalists. "All rivalries and grudges will remain in the past," he said.

Image copyright PA Image caption Farc leader Rodrigo Londono, better known under his alias of Timoleon Jimenez or Timochenko, announced the start of the ceasefire in Havana

Image copyright Twitter

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signed a decree earlier to halt military operations against the Farc, also from midnight.

"One of the country's most painful chapters" was coming to an end, he said in a tweet on Sunday, calling the ceasefire a "historic step".

Crucial milestone: Analysis by Will Grant, BBC News, Havana

Image copyright Reuters

In one sense, the Farc's announcement of a total ceasefire is purely procedural. In another, it is a historic moment towards a lasting peace. It is procedural in that the bilateral ceasefire had already been agreed and there has in effect been a truce on the ground for several months.

But the definitive ceasefire was supposed to come into force the day after the final peace agreement was signed by President Santos and the leader of the Farc, Timoleon Jimenez - an event expected in Cartagena at the end of September. This moves that forward in a gesture of goodwill on both sides.

It is historic in that - finally - it brings to an end more than 50 years of conflict which left an estimated 260,000 people dead and millions internally displaced. These milestones are crucial for the Colombian peace process.

Perhaps more important is what comes next: a popular vote on the agreement in early October. That will decide the fate of the years of negotiation in Havana and, in the process, the political futures of both President Santos and the Farc.

A peace agreement was announced on Wednesday in Havana, at the peace talks.

Farc fighters will ratify the accord in September and a Colombian popular vote on the agreement will follow on 2 October.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Colombian author Juan Gabriel Vásquez reflects on a peace deal after 52 years of conflict

Under the terms of the agreement, the Farc (the Spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) will give up its armed struggle and join the legal political process.

In March Colombia announced the start of peace negotiations with the second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), but the rebels have yet to meet the government's precondition of releasing all of their hostages and stop all kidnapping.

The Farc's 52-year fight

Image copyright Reuters

1964: Set up as armed wing of Communist Party

2002: At its height, with an army of 20,000 fighters controlling up to a third of the country

2008: The group's worst year, when it suffered a series of bitter defeats

2012: Start of peace talks in Havana

2016: Definitive ceasefire

Are you in Colombia? Can the ceasefire be maintained? Email haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk with your experiences.

If you are willing to speak further to a BBC journalist, please include a contact telephone number.

Email your pictures to yourpics@bbc.co.uk, upload them here, tweet them to @BBC_HaveYourSay or text 61124. If you are outside the UK, send them to the international number +44 7624 800 100.

Or WhatsApp us on +44 7525 900971

Read our terms and conditions. </s> Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and Marxist rebel leader Timochenko used a pen made from a bullet on Monday to sign an accord ending a half-century war that killed a quarter of a million people.

After four years of peace talks in Cuba, Santos, 65, and Timochenko - the nom de guerre for 57-year-old revolutionary Rodrigo Londono - shook hands on Colombian soil for the first time in front of hundreds of dignitaries.

One man waved a large Colombian flag that had an extra white stripe in homage to the peace deal.

The end of Latin America’s longest-running war will turn the FARC guerrillas into a political party fighting at the ballot box instead of the battlefield they have occupied since 1964.

Related: How a Colombian-Canadian helped broker the historic peace deal between the government and FARC

Guests at the ceremony in the Caribbean coastal city of Cartagena were asked to wear white and included United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Cuban President Raul Castro and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

Showing its support for the peace deal, the European Union on Monday removed the FARC from its list of terror groups.

Kerry said Washington will also review whether to take the FARC off its terror list, and has pledged $390 million for Colombia next year to support the peace process.

“Anybody can pick up a gun, blow things up, hurt other people, but it doesn’t take you anywhere ... Peace is hard work,” he said of a rare diplomatic good news story for the Obama administration as it contends with the seeming intractable war in Syria and other conflicts.

Despite widespread relief at an end to the bloodshed and kidnappings of the past 52 years, the deal has caused divisions within Latin America’s fourth-largest economy.

Influential former President Alvaro Uribe and others are angry the accord allows rebels to enter parliament without serving any jail time.

Colombians will vote on Oct. 2 on whether to ratify the agreement, but polls show it should pass easily.

In Cartagena on Monday, huge billboards urged a “yes” vote, while Uribe led hundreds of supporters with umbrellas in the colors of the Colombian flag urging voters to back “no.”

The FARC, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, began as a peasant revolt, became a big player in the cocaine trade and at its strongest had 20,000 fighters. Now its some 7,000 fighters must hand over their weapons to the United Nations within 180 days.

Colombians are nervous over how the rebels will integrate into society, but most are optimistic peace will bring more benefits than problems.

“I can’t believe this day has finally come,” said an excited Juan Gamarra, 43, who sells jewelry in Cartagena.

Colombia has performed better economically than its neighbors in recent years, and peace should reduce the government’s security spending and open new areas of the country for mining and oil companies.

But criminal gangs may try to fill the void in rebel-held areas, landmines hinder development and rural poverty remains a huge challenge.

With peace achieved, Santos, a member of a wealthy Bogota family, will likely use his political capital to push for tax reforms and other measures to compensate for a drop in oil income caused by a fall in energy prices.

Big screens were set up around the nation of 49 million people so that thousands could watch the ceremony live.

“It’s such an important day,” said Duvier, a nom de guerre for a 25-year-old rebel attending a FARC congress last week in the southern Yari Plains that ratified the peace accord. “Now we can fight politically, without blood, without war.” </s> Colombia’s centre-right government and the Marxist Farc rebel group signed a peace deal on Monday, ending a half-century war that killed a quarter of a million people and once took the Andean country to the brink of collapse.

After four years of peace talks in Cuba, President Juan Manuel Santos (65) and rebel leader Timochenko – the nom de guerre for 57-year-old Rodrigo Londono – warmly shook hands on Colombian soil for the first time and signed the accord with a pen made from a bullet casing.

A crowd of dignitaries chanted “long live Colombia, long live peace” as Mr Santos handed Mr Timochenko a white dove pin. One man waved a large Colombian flag that had an extra white stripe in homage to the peace deal.

“The horrible night of violence that has covered us with its shadow for more than half a century is over,” Mr Santos said. “We open our hearts to a new dawn, to a brilliant sun full of possibilities that has appeared in the Colombian sky.”

Attendees observed a minute of silence in memory of those killed, maimed, raped, kidnapped and displaced during the war.

The end of Latin America’s longest-running war will turn the Farc guerrillas into a political party fighting at the ballot box instead of the battlefield they have occupied since 1964.

“No one should doubt that we will conduct politics without arms,” said Mr Timochenko, who asked for forgiveness from Farc victims. “We are all prepared to disarm in our minds and our hearts.”

Guests at the ceremony in the Caribbean coastal city of Cartagena were asked to wear white and included United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon, Cuban president Raul Castro and US secretary of state John Kerry.

Showing its support for the peace deal, the European Union on Monday removed the Farc from its list of terror groups.

Mr Kerry said Washington will also review whether to take the Farc off its terror list, and has pledged $390 million (€350 million) for Colombia next year to support the peace process.

“Anybody can pick up a gun, blow things up, hurt other people, but it doesn’t take you anywhere . . . Peace is hard work,” he said of a rare diplomatic good news story for the Obama administration as it contends with the seeming intractable war in Syria and other conflicts.

Despite widespread relief at an end to the bloodshed and kidnappings of the past 52 years, the deal has caused divisions within Latin America’s fourth-largest economy.

Influential former president Alvaro Uribe and others are angry the accord allows rebels to enter parliament without serving any jail time.

Colombians will vote on October 2nd on whether to ratify the agreement, but polls show it should pass easily.

In Cartagena on Monday, huge billboards urged a Yes vote, while Mr Uribe led hundreds of supporters with umbrellas in the colors of the Colombian flag urging voters to back No.

The Farc, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, began as a peasant revolt, became a big player in the cocaine trade and at its strongest had 20,000 fighters. Now its some 7,000 fighters must hand over their weapons to the United Nations within 180 days.

Colombians are nervous over how the rebels will integrate into society, but most are optimistic peace will bring more benefits than problems.

“This is the moment, it’s now or never,” said lawyer Melquis Pulecio (50), as he watched the ceremony with thousands of others on a big screen in central Bogota. “We are tired of this war – we were born to war.”

Colombia has performed better economically than its neighbours in recent years, and peace should reduce the government’s security spending and open new areas of the country for mining and oil companies.

Big screens were set up around the nation of 49 million people so that thousands could watch the ceremony live.

“It’s such an important day,” said Duvier, a nom de guerre for a 25-year-old rebel attending a Farc congress last week in the southern Yari Plains that ratified the peace accord. “Now we can fight politically, without blood, without war.” </s> Rodrigo "Timochenko" Londoño, the leader of the demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group, said in an interview with EFE that one economic power sector was blocking the peace achieved after half a century of war in Colombia.

Q: At the signing of the peace agreement on Nov. 24, 2016, you said "that words will be the only weapon of Colombians." What is your view today? </s> BOGOTA, Colombia — A referendum defeat for a peace deal with leftist rebels leaves Colombians with no Plan B to save an accord that sought to bring an end to a half century of hostilities.

Instead of winning by an almost two-to-one margin Sunday as pre-election polls had predicted, those favoring the accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia lost by a razor-thin margin, 49.8 percent to 50.2 percent for those against the deal.

Both President Juan Manuel Santos and leaders of the FARC, after four years of negotiations, vowed to push ahead, giving no hint they want to resume a war that has already killed 220,000 people and displaced 8 million.

"I won't give up. I'll continue search for peace until the last moment of my mandate," Santos said in a televised address appealing for calm.

Santos has ordered his negotiators to return to Cuba on Monday to confer with FARC's top leaders.

"The FARC deeply regret that the destructive power of those who sow hatred and revenge have influenced the Colombian people's opinion," the FARC's top commander, a guerrilla known as Timochenko, told reporters.

Foreign leaders had heralded the accord as a model for a world beset by political violence and terrorism. Many heads of state as well as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry were present when Santos and Timochenko signed the deal less than a week ago.

Norway, which along with Cuba co-sponsored the talks, said it would be willing to further facilitate peace talks. </s> CARTAGENA, Colombia — More than 220,000 deaths, 8 million homeless and countless human rights violations: These are the tragic toll of South America's oldest armed conflict, which begins to wind down with the signing Monday of a historic agreement between Colombia's government and the country's largest rebel movement to end a half-century of hostilities.

Underlining the significance of the deal, President Juan Manuel Santos and the top commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a rebel fighter known by the alias Timochenko, were to sign the accord in the colonial city of Cartagena. Fifteen Latin American presidents as well as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry were on hand to witness the signing.

In a ceremony charged with symbolism befitting an historic moment that generations of Colombians thought they would never see, the more than 2,500 guests were asked to wear white as a sign of peace and Santos was to sign the 297-page accord with a pen made from a recycled shell used in combat.

Earlier Monday, Santos and the foreign dignitaries attended a Mass celebrated by Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's secretary of state, at a baroque church named for St. Peter Claver, a 17th-century Jesuit priest revered as the "slave of slaves" for his role aiding thousands of African slaves brought to the New World as chattel.

"All of us here today are conscious of the fact we're at the end of a negotiation, but also the beginning of a still open process of change that requires the contribution and respect of all Colombians," the cardinal said.

Across the country Colombians marked the occasion with a host of activities, from peace concerts by top-name artists to a street party in the capital, Bogota, where the signing ceremony was to be broadcast live on a giant screen. It was also celebrated by hundreds of guerrillas gathered in a remote region of southern Colombia where last week top commanders ratified the accord in what they said would be their last conference as a guerrilla army.

The signing won't close the deal, however. Colombians will be given the final say on endorsing or rejecting the accord in an Oct. 2 referendum. Opinion polls point to an almost-certain victory for the "yes" vote, but some analysts warn that a closer-than-expected finish or low voter turnout could bode poorly for the tough task the country faces in implementing the ambitious accord.

Among the biggest challenges will be judging the war crimes of guerrillas as well as state actors. Under terms of the accord, rebels who lay down their weapons and confess their abuses will be spared jail time and be allowed to provide reparations to their victims by carrying out development work in areas hard hit by the conflict.

That has angered some victims and conservative opponents of Santos, a few hundred of whom took to the streets Monday to protest what they consider the government's excessive leniency toward guerrilla leaders responsible for scores of atrocities in a conflict fueled by the country's cocaine trade.

To shouts of "Santos is a coward!" former President Alvaro Uribe, the architect of the decade-long, U.S.-backed military offensive that forced the FARC to the negotiating table, said the peace deal puts Colombia on the path to becoming a leftist dictatorship in the of Cuba or Venezuela — two countries that along with Norway played a vital role sponsoring the four-year-long talks.

"The democratic world would never allow bin Laden or those belonging to ISIS to become president, so why does Colombia have to allow the election of the terrorists who've kidnapped 11,700 children or raped 6,800 women?" he told protesters gathered in a working-class on the outskirts of Cartagena.

The stiff domestic opposition contrasts with widespread acclaim abroad for the accord — a rare example in a war-torn world of what can be achieved through dialogue. On Monday, European Union foreign policy Federica Mogherini said that with the signing of the peace agreement, the EU would suspend the FARC from its list of terrorist organizations.

"We clearly are ready to review and make judgments as the facts come in," he told reporters. "We don't want to leave people on the list if they don't belong."

The FARC was established in 1964 by self- groups and communist activists who joined forces to resist a government military onslaught. Reflecting that history, the final accord commits the government to addressing unequal land distribution that has been at the heart of Colombia's conflict.

But as the war dragged on, and insurgencies elsewhere in Latin America were defeated, the FARC slipped deeper and deeper into Colombia's lucrative cocaine trade — to the point that President George W. Bush's administration in 2006 called it the world's biggest drug cartel.

Only if the accord passes the referendum will the FARC's roughly 7,000 fighters begin moving to 28 designated zones where, over the next six months, they are to turn over their weapons to U.N.-sponsored observers.

Negotiations, which had been expected to take a few months, stretched over more than four years and had to overcome a number of crises, from the military's killing of the guerrilla group's then top commander, known as Alfonso Cano, shortly after he authorized a secret back channel with the government, to the rebels' capture of an army general who until a few months ago would have been a trophy prisoner.

"What's good about the fact that it lasted four years is that it was a very thorough process," Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende told The Associated Press in an interview before Monday's signing. Norway and Cuba were co-sponsors of the negotiations that began in Oslo in 2012 and then shifted to Havana. </s> Colombia’s government and the leftist FARC rebels prepared to sign a historic peace accord Monday to end a half-century civil war that has killed hundreds of thousands.

A solemn ceremony on the Caribbean coast witnessed by international dignitaries will set the seal on a four-year process to end Latin America’s last major armed conflict.

“Today we are experiencing the happiness of a new dawn for Colombia,” President Juan Manuel Santos said on Twitter.

He called it “a new stage in our history — one of a country in peace!”

He will sign the accord at 5:00 pm (2200 GMT) with his former enemy, FARC leader Timoleon Jimenez, at a ceremony in the colourful colonial city of Cartagena, the government said.

Santos opened the day’s events with a tribute to the Colombian military and police.

A prayer service for peace and reconciliation was scheduled later at an 18th-century Catholic church in Cartagena’s old town, led by the Vatican’s Secretary of State Pietro Parolin.

The guests at the signing will include UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State John Kerry and an array of Latin American leaders.

They include Cuban President Raul Castro, whose country hosted the nearly four-year-long peace talks.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC guerrilla leader Rodrigo Londoño, also known as Timochenko, sign a peace accord in Cartagena, ending the longest running armed conflict in the Western Hemisphere. The final agreement will be submitted to popular ratification in a referendum on October 2.