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FARC calls for extension of deadline for peace agreement

Xinhua, March 11, 2016 Adjust font size:

The FARC guerrilla group said on Thursday it agreed that more time was needed to sign a peace deal with the government, calling for an extension of the deadline previously set for March 23.

Speaking a day after President Juan Manuel Santos said he would not sign a "bad deal" just to meet the deadline, the FARC said it is unfeasible to sign the peace deal by March 23.

However, Santos said, the two sides were in the "final straight" to reach a deal after over three years of talks in Cuba.

"We feel President Santos has acted with objectivity and we agree with him, that there are no conditions (to find an agreement) by March 23," said the FARC in a release issued here.

"We are happy to settle on another date together," said Joaquin Gomes, member of the FARC negotiation group.

The original deadline was announced in September 2015 in Havana after a historic meeting between Santos and the top FARC leader, Timoleon Jimenez, alias Timochenko.

The peace talks, which have been going on in Cuba since November 2012, are seeking to end 52 years of conflict, which have killed over 220,000 people and displaced more than 6 million others. Endit