BOGOTA
FARC rebels, Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, admitted Thursday that its actions has affected the civilian population in the long-running conflict.
"We recognize explicitly that our actions have affected civilians in different moments and circumstances during the dispute," said FARC guerrilla Pablo Atrato from Havana, where peace talks are currently being held. "The FARC will assume responsibility for whatever concerns us," he added.
Reaction to the announcement, being interpreted as a ground-breaking declaration, has been largely positive. President Juan Manuel Santos has suggested that the arrival of more militarily inclined guerrillas at the negotiating table in Havana indicates that the dialogues are approaching the topic of laying down weapons, a bilateral cease-fire and then how to end the conflict.
"This is a first step," tweeted Colombian politician Clara Rojas, a former hostage held by the FARC for a period of six years when she was captured in 2002 alongside former presidential hopeful Ingrid Betancourt. "This recognition is still in its infancy, since at least 40,000 people have been affected by kidnapping, and the FARC is responsible for an estimated 67 percent of these."
In Thursday’s declaration, Atrato admitted that, "as a warring political and military force in the social and armed conflict in Colombia for more than 50 years, it is evident that we have been involved in an active manner and our actions have impacted the adversary and in some ways affected the civilian population which has lived immersed in war." However, he added that "the civilian population has neither been the main target nor a secondary target of their defensive actions or offensive ones for their armed forces. Put simply, the FARC has never actively pursued a politics of deliberate and systematic victimization against civilians, as we have acted only adopting sanctioned measures against those responsible."
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC rebels) have been engaged in a civil conflict with the government since 1964 but have been involved in peace dialogues in Havana beginning in November 2012.
One negative reaction to the FARC’s announcement has predictably come from the opposition Center Democratic party, the led by former president and current Sen. Alvaro Uribe.
"The government is negotiating with narco terrorists, those responsible for mass kidnapping and car bombs all of which have caused so much damage to Colombians," Uribe said in an interview with the El Espectador newspaper Friday.
The Colombian conflict has since 1958, according to Human Rights Watch, caused the deaths of an estimated 220,000 people and displaced upwards of 5 million people. So far the peace talks have addressed the issues of agrarian reform, political participation and illicit drugs.
www.aa.com.tr/en
