Colombia, rebels begin peace talks in Oslo

Negotiators representing Colombia and the communist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) met behind closed doors in Oslo on 17 and 18 October, beginning a process of talks intended to end decades of civil war in Colombia. A communiqué read out by Cuban and Norwegian diplomats declared that the sides had set up the "negotiation table charged with developing the General Agreement for the Termination of the Conflict and Construction of a Stable and Lasting Peace, and in this way the second phase of the process begins," Venezuela's state news agency reported. The sides have apparently signed a document that they would not abandon talks before achieving a "real and sensible" peace agreement, El Espectador reported, which apparently contradicted the government's posture that talks could not go on indefinitely. Selected spokesmen were to meet again in Havana on 5 November to continue preparatory work for the next stage of talks on 15 November, when negotiators would discuss the first main theme agreed on - agrarian or rural development. Talks were to strictly follow the agenda set in previous months, Colombia's chief negotiator Humberto de la Calle Lombana told the press in Oslo on 18 October. He said these were not political or ideological arguments and the sides were not there to "convince" one another of their political preferences. He told a reporter of the Colombian broadcaster RCN that the FARC were entitled to hold and express their views, but peacefully. He told Reuters that talks would seek to eventually "transform" the FARC into a political force instead of an armed group, and "open ways" to end the "mix of politics and arms" in Colombia. De la Calle said at one point that the government would not become a "hostage" of prolonged talks if the agenda did not progress, the broadcaster Caracol reported.