Colombia's National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrillas are to end their 101-day ceasefire at midnight Tuesday, but the rebels' leader says there is a "consensus" on the need to extend it.

The ceasefire's expiration comes as rebel and Colombian government negotiators resume peace talks in neighboring Ecuador.

"Today Tuesday at 2400 hours the cessation, which lasted 101 days, comes to an end," ELN leader Pablo Beltran said, adding that there was a "consensus" to agree a further ceasefire in the talks.

Beltran said he hoped there would be no "erosion" of the ceasefire before an extension could be agreed.

Nonetheless, he has warned his forces to be alert to possible "offensive operations" by the Colombian army, he said.

"We have reached an important stage, that is, to develop the talks during the bilateral ceasefire. We are going to try to maintain that. Meanwhile we hope that there is no escalation," he said.

Both sides have separately said they want the ceasefire to be extended, but an accord has remained out of reach because of mutual accusations of failure to meet commitments.

Both the ELN and the government of President Juan Manuel Santos have accused each other of breaches since the truce began on October 1.

The ELN recently acknowledged the murder of an indigenous governor, for which it has asked the forgiveness of the Colombian people.

In turn, the rebels accused the security forces of killing seven coca farmers, and of military operations carried out in areas of ELN influence.

However, there were no reports of direct confrontations between the army and the rebels, which is unprecedented in the history of Colombia's conflict.

A pact with the ELN would close the last chapter of a half-century conflict in the South American nation, following a deal struck by Nobel Peace Prize-winning Santos in November 2016 with the much larger FARC insurgents.

The ELN has an estimated 2,000 fighters in its ranks.

Under its peace deal, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has disarmed, demobilized its fighters, and transformed into a political party using their same acronym.

Colombia's long internal conflict created around eight million victims, including those killed, made to disappear and displaced from their homes. </s> BOGOTA/QUITO (Reuters) - Colombia’s Marxist ELN rebels resumed attacks on oil installations and the armed forces on Wednesday, threatening the future of peace talks just hours after the expiration of a ceasefire agreement with the government.

The talks in Quito, Ecuador, had been scheduled to restart on Wednesday after a recess between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the government of center-right President Juan Manuel Santos.

Santos said he ordered his chief negotiator back to Bogota after the attacks, however, to weigh the future of a process that began early last year in a bid to end more than 53 years of fighting.

The rebels carried out three bomb attacks in the early hours against the Cano Limon oil pipeline, which takes crude from the Cano Limon oil field, operated by Occidental Petroleum Corp, to the Caribbean port of Covenas. The bombings against the pipeline, which is Colombia’s second most important, forced the suspension of pumping operations, the government said.

The ELN also staged a grenade attack on a naval base in Arauca province, injuring two soldiers.

Separately, state oil company Ecopetrol reported an attack on one of its facilities in a rural area Casanare province.

“I deplore the decision by the ELN to reactivate its terrorist attacks,” Santos said in a televised address.

“The government was always willing to extend the ceasefire. Inexplicably, the ELN refused. Under the circumstances I have ordered the return of our chief negotiator to evaluate the future of talks.”

The group’s first-ever ceasefire, which began in October, ended overnight. The ELN has said it will not extend the truce under the original terms and wants a new deal.

Pablo Beltran, chief ELN negotiator in Quito, said the group had adhered to the conditions of the ceasefire and that the two sides had always agreed to evaluate new terms after the 101-day truce expired.

He said Wednesday’s attacks occurred in “complex situations” of war and that the group maintained its intention to negotiate a new ceasefire.

“We’re seeking a response from the government to see if it’s interested in finding a way out of this incident. If there’s a positive response, the ELN delegation will remain in Quito,” Beltran said.

“But if there’s no positive response we will have to return to Colombia.”

During the ceasefire, reached on Sept. 4, the insurgent group promised to suspend hostage-taking, attacks on roads and oil installations, the use of landmines and the recruitment of minors. In turn, the government agreed to improve protection for community leaders and conditions for about 450 jailed rebels.

The 2,000-strong ELN has hurt the oil industry with its regular bombings of infrastructure and has taken numerous oil workers hostage over the years.

Santos, who leaves office this year, signed a peace deal with the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in late 2016 after negotiations in Cuba that lasted four years.

The FARC is now a political party with a candidate for president in May elections.

The ELN, founded by radical Roman Catholic priests in 1964, has sought peace with the government before but made little progress. It is considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. </s> Colombia’s military and ELN rebels resumed hostilities on Wednesday after failing to agree to an extension of a bilateral ceasefire, in spite of pleas by victims and the international community to maintain a ceasefire.

The warring parties agreed to continue negotiating a new ceasefire in support of peace talks that began in February last year.

The first ceasefire with the guerrilla group in more than half a century lasted 101 days and was marred by violent incidents.

The United Nations said that its observers witnessed a major improvement for the civilian population in rebel territory since the truce came into effect in October.

[We] stress the humanitarian relief that the temporary ceasefire has brought to communities and the decrease in violence in most conflict-affected areas. They are tangible benefits that enhance the legitimacy of the peace process.

United Nations / Catholic Church monitoring mission

Without a ceasefire prohibiting the practice, The rebels could return to extorting communities to finance their decades-old uprising.

Both the guerrillas and Colombia’s defense minister said to be ready to resume hostilities in the weeks before the deadline.

The talks are complicated by a lack of confidence between the parties and upcoming votes to elect a new president and congress.

The ELN has accused the military of colluding with the AGC, a paramilitary group that has been combating the guerrillas in western Colombia.

Both security forces and ELN guerrillas are investigated for massacres that took place during the ceasefire.

The truce was the first of the ELN since the Marxist group appearance in 1964.

The peace talks take place while the FARC — until last year Colombia’s largest guerrilla group — is running in their first elections since the beginning of the conflict.

Also this process has been marred by irregularities and is hardly popular among the country’s population that is polarized after decades of drug-fueled political violence. </s> Colombia's Marxist ELN rebels resumed attacks on oil installations and the armed forces on Wednesday, just hours after the expiration of a ceasefire with the government that had reduced the intensity of the conflict, high-level military sources said.

BOGOTA: Colombia's Marxist ELN rebels resumed attacks on oil installations and the armed forces on Wednesday, just hours after the expiration of a ceasefire with the government that had reduced the intensity of the conflict, high-level military sources said.

The attacks threatened peace talks scheduled to resume on Wednesday between the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the government.

The negotiations have been under way in Quito, the capital of Ecuador, since the beginning of last year in a bid to end more than 53 years of fighting but President Juan Manuel Santos ordered his chief negotiator back to Bogota to evaluate their future.

The rebels launched two bomb attacks in the early hours against the Cano Limon oil pipeline, which takes crude from the Cano Limon oil field, operated by Occidental Petroleum Corp, to the Caribbean. Two sections of the pipeline were damaged in Arauca and Boyaca provinces, forcing the suspension of pumping, a senior army official told Reuters.

The ELN also tossed a grenade at a naval base in Arauquita, in Arauca province, injuring two soldiers, the official said.

State oil company Ecopetrol also reported an attack on one of its facilities in a rural area of Aguazul in Casanare province.

If talks continue, the assault likely will pressure the government to quickly negotiate a new suspension of hostilities with the ELN.

"I deplore the decision by the ELN to reactivate its terrorist attacks," Santos said in a televised address. "The government was always willing to extend the ceasefire. Inexplicably, the ELN refused. Under the circumstances I have ordered the return of our chief negotiator to evaluate the future of talks."

The group's first-ever ceasefire, which began in October, ended overnight without being extended as logistical problems prevented the two sides from meeting at the scheduled time on Monday, the government said.

The ELN has said it will not extend the truce under original terms and wants a new deal.

Before the attacks, centre-right Santos had not said he would launch an immediate offensive against the group now that the ceasefire has ended.

During the ceasefire, reached on Sept. 4, the insurgent group promised to suspend hostage-taking, attacks on roads and oil installations, the use of landmines and the recruitment of minors. In turn, the government agreed to improve protection for community leaders and conditions for about 450 jailed rebels.

The 2,000-strong ELN has caused serious difficulty in the oil industry with its regular bombings of infrastructure and has taken numerous oil workers hostages over the years. It has clashed with other armed groups during the ceasefire.

Santos, who leaves office this year, signed a peace deal with the larger Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in late 2016 after negotiations in Cuba that lasted four years.

The FARC is now a political party with a candidate for president in May elections.

The ELN, founded by radical Roman Catholic priests in 1964, has sought peace with the government before but made little progress. It is considered a terrorist group by the United States and European Union. </s> The Colombian government and the ELN guerrilla group ended their fifth round of peace talks in Havana on Friday without reaching an agreement for a bilateral ceasefire, but vowed to continue their dialogue.

"The delegations have moved closer to a new ceasefire and we express our hope for a new and better truce, which we will work toward on the sixth cycle" that begins June 25, the two parties said in a joint statement.

The round of talks ended as Colombia prepares to go to the polls for the second round of its presidential election on Sunday.

The ELN (National Liberation Army) has announced a temporary unilateral ceasefire from Friday to Tuesday.

Conservative candidate Ivan Duque won the first round at the end of May and is favored to prevail over leftist Gustavo Petro.

He has promised if elected to renegotiate, without tearing up, a historic pact signed in 2016 between Colombia and the FARC that he considers too lenient because it offered amnesty to the former rebels if they admitted their crimes.

Duque has also expressed reservations toward the negotiations in Havana between the administration of outgoing president Juan Manuel Santos, represented by negotiator Gustavo Bell, and the ELN, represented by their leader Pablo Beltran.

More than 260,000 people have been killed, 83,000 remain missing and 7.4 million have been displaced in 50 years of conflict between the government and guerrilla movements.

The ELN, the last guerrilla group active in the country with around 1,500 fighters, previously announced a ceasefire during the first round of the presidential election. </s> Colombian President Jose Manuel Santos announced Tuesday that the ceasefire signed with Marxist rebel group FARC will expire at the end of the month.

"I hope that we can advance in our accords and dialogues so that we can settle on the arrangements, and the agreements that allow us to put in place a solution to this conflict," Santos said in a televised statement.

Colombia was thrown into disarray Sunday after voters narrowly rejected a referendum on the deal brokered between the government and FARC to end a 52-year war. Final results showed a little more than 50% of voters chose "no."

On Wednesday, Santos will meet with opposition leader and former president Alvaro Uribe. Santos will also meet with former president Andrés Pastrana Arango, who also opposed the peace deal. </s> The Colombian government is to begin formal peace talks with the country's second largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), according to a joint statement on Wednesday in Venezuela's foreign ministry.

The talks, which will take place in Ecuador, could move Colombia a step closer to ending a five-decade conflict. They are separate from negotiations underway with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. (Reporting by Eyanir Chinea; Writing by Girish Gupta; editing by Grant McCool) </s> A permanent ceasefire is taking effect in Colombia, in the latest step to bring an end to 52 years of bloody combat between the government and the country’s biggest rebel group.

The commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) announced on Sunday that his fighters would cease hostilities beginning at 12.01am on Monday. as a result of the peace deal reached by the two sides during the week.

Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos made a similar announcement on Friday, saying the military would halt attacks on the Farc beginning on Monday.

Farc leader Rodrigo Londono, also known as Timochenko, made his announcement in Havana, Cuba, where rebel and government negotiators talked for four years to reach the deal on ending one of the world’s longest-running conflicts.

“Never again will parents be burying their sons and daughters killed in the war,” he said. “All rivalries and grudges will remain in the past.”

Colombia is expected to hold a national referendum on October 2nd to give voters the chance to approve the accord, which would end political violence that has claimed more than 220,000 lives and driven more than five million people from their homes over five decades.

Polls say most Colombians loathe the rebel group but are likely to endorse the deal anyway.

Top Farc commanders are planning to gather one final time in mid-September to ratify the deal.

Under the 297-page accord, Farc guerrillas are supposed to turn over their weapons within six months after the deal is formally signed. In return, the Farc’s still unnamed future political movement will be given a minimum 10 congressional seats — five in the lower house, five in the senate — for two legislative periods.

In addition, 16 lower house seats will be created for grassroots activists in rural areas traditionally neglected by the state and in which existing political parties will be banned from running candidates.

But critics of the peace process say that will further boost the rebels’ post-conflict political power.

After 2026, both arrangements would end and the former rebels would have to demonstrate their political strength at the ballot box.

Not all hostilities are ending under the deal with the Farc. The much-smaller National Liberation Army remains active in Colombia, although it is pursuing its own peace deal with the government. </s> BOGOTA: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said a ceasefire with the country’s FARC guerillas has been extended until December 31 but that he hopes to have “a new agreement” for peace before that date.

“I have made the decision to extend the bilateral ceasefire until December 31. Let this be clear: This is not an ultimatum nor a deadline, but I hope that the entire process of obtaining a new agreement will be complete well before then,” the president said in a televised address.

The announcement came as Santos held fresh meetings with the opposition and members of the public, seeking a solution to the political fallout caused by voters who rejected the peace accord negotiated between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the government.

Santos — who has staked his legacy on making peace — had previously said that the army would halt its ceasefire at the end of this month if no solution to the impasse was found by then.

The FARC, which had criticized Santos’ deadline, has also confirmed its willingness to continue negotiations and maintain a bilateral ceasefire.

Santos said he made the decision to extend the ceasefire after a student at one of the meetings told him that “in the army and among the guerrillas there are young people who are aware of what is happening, who hope not to have to return to shooting.”

In his address Santos urged Colombians to “achieve forever an end to the violence, the return of the displaced to their homes.”

The Colombian leader won the Nobel Peace Prize just a few days after voters shot down the historic accord in a referendum that would have ended more than 52 years of conflict.

The prize appeared to encourage the peacemakers.

Since the accord’s rejection, Santos has held marathon talks with political figures including the country’s former president Alvaro Uribe — who led opposition to the agreement — as well as religious leaders and victims of the armed conflict.

The government on Thursday also welcomed the leader of the Organization of American States, Luis Almagro, who urged Colombian leaders to commit to reaching a “prompt and urgent solution” to swiftly implement a peace agreement with the FARC. AFP
After failing to reach agreement on an extension of the 101-day ceasefire, hostilities resume between Colombia's government and ELN forces.