UN Concerned By Clashes In Eastern Colombia, Calls For Ceasing Violence - Spokesperson

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 04th February, 2022) The United Nations is concerned by the increase in violence in eastern Colombia and calls on the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to cease fighting, United Nations spokesperson Farhan Haq said on Thursday.

"We are concerned about the increase of violence and we will need to see what can be done to help those who have been displaced by the fighting," Haq said during a press briefing. "In the meantime, of course, we are asking for the fighting to cease.

"

Since the beginning of January, ELN and dissidents of the 10th Front of the FARC, who rejected the 2016 Peace Agreement in Colombia, have engaged in a military confrontation in the Arauca region on Colombia's border with Venezuela.

FARC was created in 1964 as a left-wing armed force operating against the Colombian government. In 2017, after a disarmament process, it became a political party and changed its name to Common Alternative Revolutionary Force. However, in August of 2019, former FARC leader Ivan Marquez declared his return to armed struggle.