2nd LD Writethru: Colombia, FARC announce final peace agreement in Havana

The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) announced late Wednesday that they have reached a final peace agreement to end a half-century of civil war.

"We have reached a final, comprehensive and definitive agreement" to end the conflict and build a stable and enduring peace in the country, the two sides said in a joint statement read out in Havana.

The final agreement was endorsed by the chief negotiator of the FARC delegation, commander Ivan Marquez, and his governmental counterpart Humberto de la Calle, followed by the representatives of the guarantor countries, Rodolfo Benitez of Cuba and Dag Nylander of Norway.

De la Calle stressed the significance of the deal to end the suffering of the Colombian people, saying that "the best thing we did to end the war was to sit down to talk about peace." "It is the moment to give peace a chance," he added.

Details of the peace agreement was presented by the representative of Norway. The deal would help the most vulnerable people who have been hurt by this conflict, said Nylander, "including women, children, indigenous people and all those who have suffered."

The peace accord will be submitted to a popular plebiscite for the Colombian people to have the final say on the end of the 52-year civil war.

In that sense, de la Calle, chief of the government negotiators, said, "even the last of the Colombians has something valuable to give on the road for peace."

The date or mechanism for the poll has been set for Oct. 2. Average Colombians are expected to welcome a deal to end the fighting, except Colombia's more conservative camps.

President Juan Manuel Santos is expected to address the nation from the Colombian capital of Bogota later Wednesday evening.

Earlier this month, both sides announced a UN-supervised protocol and timetable to implement ceasefire and disarmament agreements signed in June by top FARC commander Timoleon "Timochenko" Jimenez and President Santos in Cuba, where peace talks have been held since November 2012.

The peace deal commits Colombia's government to carrying out aggressive land reforms, reorient its anti-narcotics strategy, allow the FARC to become a legitimate political party and protect demobilized rebels and leftist activists who have traditionally been targeted by right-wing paramilitary groups.

The FARC has agreed to a six-month disarmament process with its troops gathering at a number of "safe zones" across Colombia to surrender their weapons under the UN supervision.

Final text of the peace deal has yet to be published, but the announcement of the deal opens the possibility for Colombians to end five decades of bloodshed.

The conflict between the Colombian government and the leftist rebel group started in the 1960s as an uprising for land rights. It has left about 260,000 people dead, 45,000 missing and nearly 7 million displaced, according to official figures. Endi