Colombia FARC rebels complete handing over of weapons

The municipality of Mesetas in the department of Meta saw the final act of the disarmament of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), formerly Colombia's largest guerrilla group.

This last handing over of weapons on Tuesday was supervised by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, the supreme commander of the FARC Rodrigo Londono, and the head of the UN Mission in Colombia Jean Arnault, Xinhua news agency reported.

The UN team, which has been tasked with verifying that all weapons were handed over, certified 7,132 individual weapons during the ceremony.

The event also saw the participation of ministers, representatives from guarantor countries, facilitators of the peace agreement signed between Colombian government and the FARC, and members of NGOs.

The UN members, charged with receiving and storing the weapons, explained how the work had been carried out and formally closed the doors of the containers where the weapons will be kept until they are melted down to build three monuments to honor peace.

Writing on Twitter, Santos said: "Colombia has the best news in 50 years: the FARC have left their weapons and words will be their only form of expression."

The process is a symbolic end to the violence which wracked Colombia for over half a century after peace talks in Havana, Cuba, which lasted from 2012 to 2016, ended with a final peace accord.

--IANS

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