Colombia's Congress approves revised deal with FARC

The Congress of Colombia on 30 November 2016 approved the revised peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group.

The lower house voted 130-0 to approve the text adopted earlier by the Senate.

The approval comes after Juan Manuel Santos, President of Colombia, and Rodrigo Londono, the leader of the FARC signed a revised peace agreement on 24 November 2016.

The revised accord was Colombian Government’s second attempt to end Latin America’s longest-running conflict, which has killed around 220000 people.

The previous deal, which was signed in September 2016, was rejected narrowly by the citizens of Colombia in a popular vote held in October 2016.

Background

• The Colombian Government and the FARC had signed the historic peace accord on 24 August 2016. However, the deal was rejected by the Colombian voters in a referendum.

• The peace agreement was reached after the two sides earlier in June 2016 signed the bilateral ceasefire agreement.

• Over the past four years, peace negotiators have managed to reach agreement on six areas and they are land reform, political participation for ex-rebels, justice for victims of the conflict, fighting drug trafficking, disarmament and the implementation and monitoring of the accord.