Germany will accompany the peace process, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has said in Colombia. He was opening the German-Colombian Peace Institute and visiting one of the 26 centers for demobilized FARC rebels.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/B. von Jutrczenka
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As part of his visit to Colombia, Steinmeier traveled out to a remote part of the South American country where he spent time at one of the 26 centers set up to house fighters with the FARC rebel group. The militants are demobilizing over a six-month period following the peace agreement signed between the government and FARC rebels last November.
The minister said that confidence between the parties involved in the peace accord was fundamental to reaching a successful conclusion.
"Here we are in a region far from the capital, where access is very difficult and in regions such as this there will be a test as to whether this peace agreement is going to take shape and if it will be possible to transform this country and bring it to a new reality," Steinmeier said.
"Those who know the history of the last 50 years of Colombia known that this is a region which has seen much fighting, much violence," Steinmeier commented, adding that Mesetas, and other towns and villages in the area had been bastions of the FARC rebels for decades. But today "in Colombia we are seeing a profound change," Steinmeier said.
Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter SteinmeierImage: Reuters
Ministerial exchanges
Steinmeier also met with President Juan Manuel Santos and Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin in Bogota.
Afterwards Steinmeier said the meeting showed the peace agreement was very important but its "implementation was also very important and difficult."
High Commissioner for Peace in Colombia, Sergio Jaramillo, said "while Germany may seem far away, its example is very relevant."
Jaramillo recalled that last year the former Spanish president Felipe Gonzalez compared peace in Colombia "with German reunification, and I say he was completely correct." He explained that as Germany carried out its reunification process in 1990 into a single country, with the peace process "it was about integrating Colombia" and giving people in isolated regions - such as Mesetas - living conditions "similar to those enjoyed by inhabitants of large cities."
Steinmeier at the San Carlos palace in BogotaImage: Reuters/J. Saldarriaga
German-Colombian Peace Institute
Earlier, Steinmeier had opened the German-Colombian Peace Institute in the capital. The aim of the center is to help with reconciliation efforts in the wake of the civil war.
The institute is to support academic degrees in Colombia focusing on transdisciplinary reconciliation studies.
With a budget of 400,000 euros ($425,000) the center is to officially start its work later this year.
Latin America's longest armed conflict comes to an end
The Colombian government has reached a historic truce with FARC, ending over half a century of violence with the leftist group. Latin America's longest conflict claimed at least 220,000 lives.
Image: Reuters/A. Meneghini
How the insurgency started
In 1948, the assassination of populist leader Jorge Eliecer Gaitan sparked political chaos in Colombia known as "the violence." Tens of thousands died and peasant groups joined with communists to arm themselves. Later in 1964, a military attack on the insurgency's main encampment led to the creation of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
What the rebels wanted
FARC's political ideology has never been well defined. Initially, it sought to weaken the oligarchy's grip on power. The rebels also wanted land reforms in a country where more than 5 million people have been forcibly displaced, mostly by far-right militias. However, the group lost popularity as it turned to kidnapping and illegal gold mining for funds.
Image: Reuters
How the US got involved
To help the Colombian security forces fight against the insurgency and to counter drug-trafficking, the US began sending billions of dollars under Plan Colombia. The US State Department classifies the group as a terrorist organization and its leaders face US indictments.
Image: Reuters/J. Vizcaino
The human cost of the conflict
Latin America's longest-running armed conflict is responsible for the death an estimated 220,000 people, while millions of Colombians have been displaced within their country. According to Bogota’s estimates, there are 7.6 million direct and indirect victims of the conflict. The country has more landmine victims than any country except for Afghanistan.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Escobar Mora
Peace accord after decades of failed attempts
Peace talks between FARC and the government collapsed in the mid 1980s after at least 3,000 allies of FARC's political wing Patriotic Union Party were killed at the hands of right-wing paramilitaries. Efforts fell short again in 2002 after the rebels hijacked an airliner to kidnap a senator. The latest round of talks started in 2012 in Havana and culminated on August 24, 2016 with a deal.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/E. Abramovich
50 years of conflict
"We have reached a final, integral and definitive agreement" to end the conflict and build a stable, lasting peace, the government of President Juan Manuel Santos and the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia said in a joint statement. In June, the negotiators had already announced a cease-fire agreement and a blueprint for how the estimated 7,000 to 8,000 fighters will demobilize.
