THE central command of Colombia’s National Liberation Army (ELN) issued an order on Monday for all its fighters to respect a ceasefire against the country’s military, police and security agencies, from August 3.

ELN commander Antonio Garcia read a statement calling on “all commanders and combatants of the ELN to rigorously comply with this agreed ceasefire.”

The ceasefire is due to be in force for six months.

The Colombian government and the ELN announced in a joint statement that next week the National Participation Committee will be set up in Bogota, Colombia, in compliance with the ceasefire agreement.

The statement said that the committee “will play a fundamental role as the body in charge of designing and promoting the participation of society in the peace process.”

Members of the committee will be announced later this week by President Gustavo Petro and members of the Colombian civil society.

Last June, the temporary ceasefire was agreed between the Colombian government and the guerilla fighters in a Cuban-brokered deal in Havana.

In a bizarre twisting of logic the hosting of the Colombian peace talks by Cuba has been cited by the United States government as one of the reasons why the Caribbean island has been placed on their arbitrary list of nations sponsoring terrorism.