Colombia's Catholic Church to mediate possible peace talks with guerrillas
Xinhua, January 1, 2016 Adjust font size:
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has authorized the Catholic Church to mediate in peace talks with the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group, the Episcopal Conference of Colombia said Thursday.
The Colombian government has approved further contacts between the Catholic Church and ELN leaders to coordinate the logistics for the talks, expected to take place in 2016, Archbishop Luis Augusto Castro, president of the Episcopal Conference, said in his year-end message.
He added that the Catholic Church had already set up a formal committee of bishops to oversee mediation between the two parties.
In November, ELN leader Nicolas Rodriguez Bautista, alias "Gabino", asked bishops to play a part in negotiations seeking to end the armed conflict in the South American country.
The ELN, the second largest guerrilla group in the country after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), called for peace talks following major advances in negotiations between the government and FARC in Havana, Cuba.
The negotiations will take place in 2016 at a place yet to be defined, with Uruguay and Ecuador having both offered to hold the talks. Endi