EU removes Colombia’s FARC from terrorist groups list

By Ata Ufuk Seker

BRUSSELS

Nearly a year after a landmark peace was reached in Colombia, the European Union on Monday removed the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) from its official list of terrorist groups.

Virginie Battu, press officer of the Council of the European Union, told Anadolu Agency that FARC was removed from the list as the group ceased acts of violence following the agreement.

The group has been on the EU list of terrorist groups since 2012, other than September 2016, when it was temporarily removed from the list.

On Nov. 24, 2016, Colombia’s government signed a peace deal with the country’s largest armed guerrilla group, ending 52 years of civil war.

This June, FARC finally laid down their arms after a decades-long conflict that killed more than 260,000 victims and displaced 7 million others.

Under the accord, FARC will receive five seats each in the Senate and Congress in the Colombian elections scheduled for next March, thus cementing the group’s evolution from a military to a political force.