Colombia’s Marxist rebel group has handed over another thirty percent of its weapons arsenal, as part of a peace deal it signed with the government to end more than 52 years of civil war.
It means the FARC have only forty percent of its weapons remaining to hand over by next week.
“The FARC want to show the country and the world that we are closing a chapter in the history of our country and beginning to write another: that of peace,” said Pablo Catatumbo, one of its commanders who attended a special ceremony in the south-western Cauca region.
#FARC militants hand over a further 30% of weapons to UN inspectors in #Colombia as part of peace deal: https://t.co/D0TKXmNjYTpic.twitter.com/oAR8O2JF8h
— GSI (@dailyGSI) June 14, 2017
The deadline was recently extended after logistical delays slowed the arrival of some of the group’s 7,000 fighters to special demobilization zones.
President Manuel Santos was due at the ceremony but was unable to fly to the region due to bad weather.
Under the accord, which was rejected in a public referendum but pushed through by congress, the FARC will become a political party and most fighters will receive an amnesty.
