Juan Manuel Santos

The Colombian government has opened the first round of peace talks with the ELN rebel group, seeking to end a 53-year conflict that has killed more than 260,000.

BOGOTÁ, Colombia - Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has said his government will enter into negotiations for an eventual peace agreement with the nation's second-largest rebel group, the Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN) or the Army of National Liberation, on February 7, just months after the peace agreement signed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was ratified.

Colombia's peace deal is a model for countries at war like Syria, President Juan Manuel Santos said Dec. 10 as he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize, though a ceremony for other laureates was marked by Bob Dylan's no-show.

Illustration - Photo: colombia-politics.com

The Congress formally ratified a revised peace agreement with Colombia's biggest leftist rebel group, capping a torturous four years of negotiations, a stunning referendum rejection, last-minute compromises and two signing ceremonies.

The Colombian Senate has approved a revised peace accord between the government and the FARC rebel group, taking a first step toward ratifying an agreement that was rejected by voters.

The text, which was renegotiated after an earlier version was given a thumbs down in the Oct. 2 national referendum, now must be approved by the lower house of the Colombian Congress.

Colombia's government and FARC rebels signed a controversial revised peace accord Nov. 24 to end their half-century conflict, set to be ratified in Congress despite bitter opposition.

President Juan Manuel Santos and guerrilla leader Rodrigo "Timochenko" Londono signed the new deal with a pen made from a spent bullet, in a low-key ceremony in the capital Bogota.

A new peace accord between Colombia's government and Marxist FARC rebels will be signed on Nov. 24 and sent to Congress for approval, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Nov. 22, bringing a formal end to the 52-year civil war ever closer. 

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and his incoming vice president have now spoken to 29 foreign leaders and dignitaries, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Trump's aides said Nov. 17.

Erdoğan previously had said he had talked to Trump on the phone and congratulated him over his victory. 

The Colombian government and the Marxist FARC rebels said on Nov. 12 they agreed on a revised peace deal to end a 52-year war, six weeks after the original was narrowly rejected in a referendum amid objections it was too favorable to the rebels.