Bogota, Jan 19 (IANS): The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group announced their willingness to strike a peace deal to end a five-decade-old conflict, a media report said Monday.
In a joint statement issued Sunday, they announced that they will hold talks Feb 2-10 in Cuba to negotiate a definitive cease-fire agreement and discuss reparations for victims of the conflict, Xinhua reported.
In the past two years, the two sides have reached partial agreements on several issues, including agrarian reform, participation of rebels in politics, and FARC's ties to drug trafficking, but they are yet to reach a definitive peace deal.
According to official figures, some 220,000 people have been killed and as many as 5.3 million people have been displaced during the conflict.