Colombian leader vows peace with FARC within six months

The Colombian government and FARC rebels will sign a definitive peace deal within six months to end a half-century of conflict, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Sept.23, as the two sides announced a major breakthrough.

Santos and FARC leader Timoleon "Timochenko" Jimenez presided over a ceremony where government and rebel negotiators signed a deal on justice for crimes committed during the conflict, which had been the key issue blocking progress in dragging peace talks.
 
Santos said he and Timochenko "have agreed that at the latest in six months -- six months -- these negotiations must conclude and the final peace accord must be signed."  

"It's not going to be an easy job because there are still difficult points to agree upon, but that is the instruction we have given to our delegations: they must complete the accord as soon as possible," he said.
 
US Secretary of State John Kerry hailed what he called "historic progress" in finally ending a conflict that has killed more than 220,000 people and uprooted six million.
 
"Peace is now ever closer for the Colombian people and millions of conflict victims," he said.
 
Santos, 64, had made a surprise trip to Havana, where the talks are being held, for the signing ceremony.
 
It is the first time he has appeared at the negotiations he set in motion nearly three years ago, which he has staked his presidency on successfully concluding.
 
It was also the first time he had met Timochenko, with whom he shook hands after the deal was signed -- the center-right president clad in a white dress shirt, the leftist guerrilla in a white Cuban-style "guayabera" shirt with pockets.
 
Timochenko, 56, said the deal "opens the possibility to...