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Colombia and Farc scramble to rescue peace deal amid worries of return to war
Source: The Guardian
Colombia and Farc scramble to rescue peace deal amid worries of return to war
Farc leader Timochenko says ‘peace is here to stay’ and
that rebels will insist on the deal that has already been
signed despite its rejection by voters
Sibylla Brodzinsky in Bogotá
Monday 3 October 2016 19.31 BST
Colombia has begun grappling with the astonishing rejection by voters of a peace deal to end 52 years of war with Farc guerrillas, after a referendum on Sunday which has thrown the country into a state of confusion and uncertainty.
Reeling from the stunning defeat for the deal that took four years of arduous negotiations to conclude, both the government and the Farc have said they will persist in seeking peace for the country after 50.2% of voters rejected the agreement, to 49.7% who approved it.
“Peace is here to stay,” Rodrigo Londoño, the Farc commander-in-chief known by the nom de guerre Timochenko, said in a video statement from Havana on Monday, adding that the rebel group’s members would not return to hostilities in a war that has cost more than 220,000 lives and displaced more than 6 million from their homes.
His comments echoed a speech after the results were released on Sunday night by Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, who has staked his presidency on the peace deal. “I will not give up.”
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Farc leader Timochenko says ‘peace is here to stay’ and
that rebels will insist on the deal that has already been
signed despite its rejection by voters
Sibylla Brodzinsky in Bogotá
Monday 3 October 2016 19.31 BST
Colombia has begun grappling with the astonishing rejection by voters of a peace deal to end 52 years of war with Farc guerrillas, after a referendum on Sunday which has thrown the country into a state of confusion and uncertainty.
Reeling from the stunning defeat for the deal that took four years of arduous negotiations to conclude, both the government and the Farc have said they will persist in seeking peace for the country after 50.2% of voters rejected the agreement, to 49.7% who approved it.
“Peace is here to stay,” Rodrigo Londoño, the Farc commander-in-chief known by the nom de guerre Timochenko, said in a video statement from Havana on Monday, adding that the rebel group’s members would not return to hostilities in a war that has cost more than 220,000 lives and displaced more than 6 million from their homes.
His comments echoed a speech after the results were released on Sunday night by Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos, who has staked his presidency on the peace deal. “I will not give up.”
[font size=1]-snip-[/font]
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/oct/03/colombia-farc-peace-deal-voter-referendum-reaction