The first members of Colombian rebel group FARC completed a formal disarmament process, AFP reported on Friday, March 12.
United Nations monitors confirmed 12 FARC members formally disarmed as part of a peace accord concluded between the group and the Colombian government.
A first group of 12 members of the FARC received today from the UN mission a certificate of completion of individual disarmament, which allows them to formally begin their reintegration into civilian life.
UN statement
The UN is overseeing the disarmament as part of a peace accord concluded in September between FARC and the Colombian government to end the 53-year conflict.
The UN Security Council visited Colombia from May 3-5 to meet with government and FARC-EP representatives, lawmakers, and members of civil society.
Highlights from the field: @UN Security Council's visit to the the jungle in #Colombia where #FARC are continuing their lay down of arms. pic.twitter.com/dwiZpO2Efy
— UK at the UN 🇬🇧 (@UKUN_NewYork) May 9, 2017
More than 7,000 FARC fighters have now arrived in approved zones to begin the process of laying down their arms.
As of May 5, the UN monitor said it had received 1,000 weapons from FARC members in the camps.
Not everyone is behind the deal, which was originally rejected in a nationwide referendum in October. In April, former vice minister for justice Miguel Ceballos Arebalo said the governor of Venezuela’s Amazonas state claimed 4,000 FARC rebels had entered his territory. There are other allegations that FARC has violated the agreement by failing to give the Colombian government the locations of all of its weapons.
And not all members of the group agreed to disarm. About 1,600 dissident former members have broken into smaller groups, and Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capita is looking to recruit those who didn’t join the peace accord.
