Colombia's FARC rebels say will clear landmines out of humanitarism

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) said here on Sunday that it will choose some areas to clear landmines in the first stage and the act is out of humanitarism.

"We are for the cleaning of the territories. Three or four territories will be chosen, but it is a humanitarian clearing in this stage. Our people, in the depth of the forest, won't stop defending themselves," said Ricardo Tellez, member of the FARC negotiating team.

Tellez noted that it will be very difficult to exactly localize the mines, "because in such a long conflict, some of the people who buried the landmines have died in combat and the trace is lost."

He added that the decontamination of mines is not only a FARC problem,but also the army, the paramilitary and other organizations, as they are also involved in the collocation of these devices.

Under an agreement reached between the government and the FARC two weeks ago, the decontamination will be carried out together with the Norwegian People's Aid (NPA) organization. Norway and Cuba are the guarantors of the Colombian peace negotiations.

The deal establishes that the army will take charge of this task in at least 668 of the 1.100 Colombian municipalities.

Minister of the Post-conflict General Oscar Naranjo said last week that the cleaning of landmines will begin in six weeks. Endi