Colombia peace delegation to hold extraordinary meeting with ELN rebels

Colombian negotiators will travel to Venezuela's capital Caracas to hold an extraordinary round of peace talks with leftist rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN), the government said on Wednesday. The extraordinary meeting, which was requested by the ELN amid a stall in progress, will also be attended by delegates from guarantor countries - which include Norway, Chile and Venezuela - the government said in a statement.

Colombian negotiators will travel to Venezuela's capital Caracas to hold an extraordinary round of peace talks with leftist rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN), the government said on Wednesday.

The extraordinary meeting, which was requested by the ELN amid a stall in progress, will also be attended by delegates from guarantor countries - which include Norway, Chile and Venezuela - the government said in a statement. "We hope that by April 22 we will have a decision with new and definitive advances," the government's chief negotiator Vera Grabe said in a statement.

President Gustavo Petro restarted talks with the ELN at the end of 2022 as part of his efforts to end Colombia's six-decade conflict, which killed at least 450,000 people, by inking peace or surrender deals with armed groups. The ELN and the government have held six rounds of talks so far, resulting in a bilateral ceasefire, the establishment of a multi-donor fund to finance the process and a pledge from the ELN to suspend kidnappings for ransom.

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