Colombian government, ELN rebels to meet in Havana later this month
The Colombian government and the rebel National Liberation Army (ELN) will meet in the Cuban capital Havana at the end of February for a new round of peace talks, the ELN's chief negotiator said on Monday.

"The most important thing is to arrive in Cuba with some elements of an agreement defined," Francisco Galan told civil society groups in the city of Medellin.

The two sides hope to discuss ceasefire terms and how civil society would take part in final talks, he added.

After spending 25 years in rebellion, Galan has been living in Medellin's Peace House as a member of the four-man ELN committee negotiating a peace deal. The three other members include Antonio Garcia, Ramiro Vargas and Pablo Beltran.

The Colombian government is represented by the High Commissioner for Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo.

Alvaro Uribe, Colombia's president reelected last year thanks in part to a promise to reduce the nation's violence, has said the peace process cannot go any further unless the ELN halts kidnapping and armed attacks. The ELN demands that the government make the same promise.

The ELN-government peace talks were launched four years ago. The ELN, founded in 1966, is the second-largest rebel group after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the country.