Peace in Pieces

More than 80 people were killed in attacks by the National Liberation Army (ELN) in northeastern Colombia over the weekend, an offensive that came after the government suspended peace talks with the rebels, accusing them of war crimes, Al Jazeera reported.

The attacks began late last week in the Catatumbo region with the ELN targeting a splinter group of the now-defunct Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People’s Army (FARC), which was disarmed after a peace agreement in 2016.

The attacks happened in several towns near the Colombian border with Venezuela. Among the victims are community leader Carmelo Guerrero and seven people who wanted to sign a peace deal, the Associated Press reported. Many of the victims were civilians caught in the crossfire between the two rebel groups.

Meanwhile, thousands of people have been displaced by the fighting even as the Colombian military scrambled to evacuate residents on Sunday, the AP wrote. The army said it sent more than 5,000 troops to the region to “reinforce security.”

The ELN and the former FARC rebels have been fighting over control of a strategic border region that has coca plantations.

The ELN has accused ex-FARC rebels of a number of killings in the area and warned the rebels that if they continued attacking the population, there would be an armed confrontation.

The deadly attack comes after the Colombian government suspended peace talks with the ELN for the second time in less than a year on Friday.

The ELN and the administration of President Gustavo Petro have tried to negotiate a peace deal five times, but talks continue to break down over a demand by the ELN to be recognized as a political organization.

Petro, who has been pushing a policy of “total peace” in the South American country, called off the recent negotiations with the ELN, saying “the ELN has no will for peace.”