DEVELOPMENT BULLETIN-COLOMBIA: Candidates Receptive to Rebel Offer for Peace Talks

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Yadira Ferrer

BOGOTA, May 30 1998 (IPS) - The three leading presidential candidates to face off in Sunday’s elections in Colombia are receptive to the offer put forth by the countrys largest guerrilla group to engage in peace talks with whoever is elected.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) set up a commission to discuss the possibility of peace negotiations with presidential candidates Horacio Serpa of the governing Liberal Party and conservatives Nohemi Sanin and Andres Pastrana, according to a local newscast.

The commission designated by FARC is reportedly comprised of leaders of the rebel group, commanders of its southern front, and international representatives.

However, the guerrilla group reiterated its condition that the army must be withdrawn from five municipalities in the south, where the talks would be held.

Front-runner Pastrana, who enjoyed a 31 percent favourable rating in the latest poll released by the local daily ‘El Espectador’, is the candidate for the Great Alliance for change, which includes the Conservative Party, the country’s second political force. He will run against Serpa, Sanin and 10 other candidates in the first round of elections next Sunday. The second round is scheduled for Jun. 21.

Pastrana underlined that for the first time, FARC had expressed interest in peace talks. He said he was willing to engage in dialogue with the group and personally head a peace process with international support a mediation.

But he failed to announce whether he would accept the demilitarisation demanded by the guerrillas.

Serpa, with a 26 percent rating in the same poll, not only said he accepted FARC’s proposal for peace talks, but added that if he were elected, he would be willing to order the withdrawal of troops from a specific area in which safeguards would be provided for those involved in the talks.

Sanin, who came in third in the ‘El Espectador’ poll with 23 percent, heads an independent conservative movement. While she said she would accept FARC’s proposal, she did not specify her position on the group’s demand for demilitarisation of the area in question.

Presidential peace adviser Alfredo Molano told IPS that the most concrete response came from Serpa, who accepted the proposal “down to the last detail.”

The rebel group’s condition that the army be pulled out of five southern municipalities was the main hurdle blocking peace negotiations between FARC and the government of President Ernesto Samper.

Molano called Pastrana’s response “dubitable, because although he says he is willing to dialogue, he does not precisely state anything.” He pointed out that Sanin also evaded the question of demilitarisation.

The need to design a state peace policy was set forth by Defence Minister ilberto Echeverry, who signalled the necessity for instruments that go beyond specific administrations. Thus the National Peace Council was created, a government consultancy body comprised of organisations of civil society.

The two candidates that garner the most votes Sunday are to face off in the second round, and will have to reach an agreement with the guerrillas that will pave the way for peace talks, said Molano.

Presidential peace commissioner Jose Noe Rios said FARC had expressed the desire for “a real negotiating process.” Although the official said he believed it would be better to initiate such a process with the current government, FARC has staunchly refused to engage in dialogue with Samper due to allegations that he partly financed his election campaign with money from drug cartels.

The National Liberation Army (ELN), the country’s second largest guerrilla group, signed a pre-accord with the Samper administration scheduling a meeting in June. But the rebels later suspended the decision, alleging that the government and several presidential candidates aimed to use the agreement to earn votes.

FARC and the ELN have an estimated combined total of around 14,000 combatants. Other actors in Colombia’s armed conflict are the armed forces, right-wing paramilitary groups and drug cartels.