Colombia Ceasefire

Thailand, Cambodia sign expansion of ceasefire that ended border conflict

Cambodia and Thailand on Sunday signed an expansion of a ceasefire that US President Donald Trump helped broker this summer to end their border conflict. Trump used the threat of higher tariffs against both countries to help get them to agree to end the fighting that resulted in dozens of deaths and the displacement of hundreds of thousands. The US leader watched as Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul signed the expanded ceasefire at the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which both nations are members. The agreement included Thailand releasing 18 Cambodian soldiers held prisoner and for both sides to begin removing heavy weapons from the border area. Territory along the 800-kilometre frontier between Thailand and Cambodia has been disputed for decades, but previous confrontations were limited and brief.

Thai, Cambodian officials meet in Malaysia to finalise ceasefire terms

Thai and Cambodian officials met in Malaysia on Monday for the first round of cross-border committee talks since a tense ceasefire was brokered last week after five days of deadly armed border clashes that killed dozens and displaced over 260,000 people. The four-day General Border Committee meetings were initially due to be hosted by Cambodia, but both sides later agreed to a neutral venue in Malaysia, the annual chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which has mediated the halt in hostilities last month. The July 28 ceasefire followed economic pressure from President Donald Trump, who had warned the two warring nations that the US would not conclude trade deals with them if the fighting persisted. Washington lowered tariffs on goods from the two countries from 36 per cent to 19 per cent on Aug 1 following the truce. Monday's talks focused on ironing out details to avoid further clashes. Discussions of the decades-long competing territorial claims over the pockets of

Colombia to end cease-fire with largest faction of FARC rebel holdout group

Colombia's government on Tuesday said it will end a cease-fire with the largest faction of the FARC-EMC, a holdout rebel group that refused to sign a 2016 peace deal but which had been involved in peace talks with President Gustavo Petro's administration until March. In a press conference, Defence Minister Ivn Velsquez said the FARC-EMC has split into two factions. He said a cease-fire with the group's smallest faction will be extended for three months while peace talks with the government continue. The FARC-EMC was founded by fighters who refused to join a peace deal between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia that led to the disarmament of more than 13,000 rebels and their integration into civilian life. Colombia's military estimates the hold out group has more than 4,400 fighters who operate in southwestern Colombia, in the Amazon piedmont, and in the Catatumbo region along Colombia's border with Venezuela. The group's two factions are led by commanders

Venezuelan president Maduro to fully open border with Colombia from Jan 1

Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro on Monday announced his intention to fully open the border crossings with Colombia starting January 1, a measure repeatedly postponed following the restoration of diplomatic and commercial ties between the South American neighbours. Relations between the countries were broken off in 2019, but Maduro has said the environment is conducive to improved ties with the election of Gustavo Petro as Colombia's first leftist president. The neighbours resumed diplomatic relations in September. I am going to announce that we will be completely opening the border, for all of western Venezuela with Colombia, for the passage of vehicles, motorcycles, trucks as of January 1. Maduro said on state television. We are preparing everything to comply with what we announced, to fulfill what was promised to President Gustavo Petro, he said. Petro has recognised Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela. His predecessor, Ivn Duque, along with dozens of other countri

Give peace a chance: Colombia extends ceasefire with rebels

Santos said that he was extending by two months the ceasefire with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia until Dec 31

Colombia's FARC rebels order definitive ceasefire

Hundreds of thousands of Colombians have died since 1964 as rebel armies and gangs battled in the jungles

Colombia government, FARC rebels agree to full ceasefire

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said this week that he hopes to seal a full peace deal by July 20