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Campaigners hail historic Farc peace commitment

Peace activists welcome Colombian liberation movement's commitment to lay down arms

Peace activists have welcomed Colombian liberation movement Farc's commitment to lay down its arms as part of landmark deal with the government.

President Juan Manuel Santos announced late on Wednesday that the rebel group would be given a role in politics as part of a final peace pact still under negotiation.

Talks will resume in Havana later this month to focus on drug trafficking. They will also look at disarmament, victims' rights and implementing the deal.

The government and rebels have already reached an agreement on land reform - the root of the liberation struggle.

Farc leaders' demands for amnesties must also be squared with judges' desires to prosecute war criminals. They've previously said any deal blocking war crimes charges would be unconstitutional.

Attempts to solve the conflict in the 1980s led to Farc setting up a political wing called the Patriot Union.

But 3,000 of its members - including trade unionists, communists and two presidential candidates - were assassinated by right-wing death squads, often backed by the government.

This deal marks the first time Farc has agreed to completely lay down its weapons and become a political non-violent movement.

Chief government negotiator Humberto de la Calle said it represented a "new democratic opening."

And Farc commander Ivan Marquez called it a "springtime of dreams for justice."

He pointed out that, alongside peace, political progress in Colombia depended on eliminating corruption and surrendering of natural resources to foreign countries.

Former senator Piedad Cordoba Ruiz, a leading figure in Colombians for Peace, said yesterday that she joined the "thousands of voices in Colombia and the world" to celebrate initial agreement.

But she said it was vital to get a timetable for a ceasefire in the conflict that's claimed more than 200,000 lives.

And she urged the president to open dialogue with the second-largest rebel group ELN.

"No solution to the armed conflict will be comprehensive if it doesn't include this movement," she said, adding that the ELN had repeatedly indicated its willingness to begin talks.

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