FARC Ratifies Colombia Peace Deal, Declares War Over

EL DIAMANTE, Colombia, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 24th Sep, 2016 ) - The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia declared the end of its 52-year war Friday as it ratified a historic peace deal with the government.

To a burst of applause and cheers, the FARC's chief peace negotiator announced the guerrillas had unanimously backed the agreement at a national conference. "The war is over," said Ivan Marquez, flanked by top FARC commanders, all dressed in civilian clothes and sitting at an impromptu conference table draped with Colombia's yellow, blue and red flag.

"The guerrillas.

.. have given their unanimous backing to the final accord," he said, on the sixth and last day of the meeting in El Diamante, a remote and sweltering site deep in the rebels' traditional stronghold in southeastern Colombia.

If all goes according to plan, it will be the FARC's last meeting as a guerrilla army. Under the deal, the group is now to relaunch as a political party. Marquez, who led the FARC delegation at nearly four years of peace talks in Cuba, added a reference to one of Colombia's most famous sons, the Nobel prize-winning writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez.