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FARC Accuses Colombian Government of 'Repeatedly Breaking' Peace Accord


FILE - Weapons belonging to rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are stored at a rebel camp in La Carmelita near Puerto Asis in Colombia's southwestern state of Putumayo.
FILE - Weapons belonging to rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are stored at a rebel camp in La Carmelita near Puerto Asis in Colombia's southwestern state of Putumayo.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) accused the Colombian government Sunday of "repeatedly breaking" various terms of their peace deal, and threatened to delay the Marxist rebels' demobilization.

"In face of government's repeated failure to comply with the Peace Agreement, the FARC is going to seek international monitoring," rebel leader Rodrigo Londoño, also known as Timochenko, warned on Twitter.

The statement does not make immediately clear what Londoño meant about international oversight, which is already part of the UN-monitored peace process even after demobilization of FARC forces.

Timochenko earlier said he was "considering" postponing demobilization.

Earlier, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said the government would stick to its calendar. "That is our commitment and we will fulfill it," Santos said. He has called the peace process "irreversible."

The government and the FARC reached a deal after four years of negotiations in the Cuban capital last November.

The accord also takes foreign magistrates off special peace tribunals, although there will be foreign observers, and stipulates FARC must turn in "exhaustive and detailed" information about its involvement in the drugs trade.

The deal is bringing to an end 52 years of armed conflict in Colombia that has claimed at least 260,000 lives.

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