Colombia, ELN Rebels To Make 'important' Announcement

BOGOTA, , (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 10th Oct, 2016 ) - Colombia is due to make an "important announcement" Monday with the country's second-largest rebel group, the ELN, which sources said would relate to their effort to open peace talks.

The office of President Juan Manuel Santos -- who won the Nobel Peace prize on Friday for his efforts to make peace with a larger rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) -- said the announcement would be made Monday evening in the Venezuelan capital Caracas.

Venezuela's foreign ministry said it would be "an important announcement," while sources close to both the Colombian government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) said the news had to do with an "advance" in the peace process.

The Colombian government and ELN agreed in March to launch peace talks, but Santos has said negotiations cannot begin until the group frees all its hostages.

The ELN has freed two hostages in recent days.

Authorities believe it is still holding at least two more. "Soon there will be no more civilians in the guerrillas' hands. That's the deal," a source close to the negotiations told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Santos is working to end half a century of conflict in Colombia that has killed more than 260,000 people, left 45,000 missing and uprooted nearly seven million. After nearly four years of peace talks with the FARC in the Cuban capital Havana, the government and FARC signed a peace deal on September 26 -- only for voters to reject it in a referendum, sending both sides back to the drawing board.

The ELN is estimated to be about one-fourth the size of the FARC, with some 1,500 fighters. Both leftist guerrilla groups have been at war with the state since 1964.