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Colombia
Disarms 1,371 Rebels In First Half
Year
Bogota - The Colombian government
said on Friday that as many as 1,371 anti-government
guerrillas were disarmed in the first half of this
year.
According to a report released by the government,
1,083 rebels who laid down their weapons were from
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),
280 from the National Liberation Army (ELN), and 8
from other paramilitary groups.
Colombian guerrilla groups, led by the FARC and the
ELN, have been fighting government troops for more
than 40 years.
Some 1,180 of the disarmed rebels surrendered
themselves to the Colombian Army and National
Police, 135 to the National Security Department, and
others to domestic institutions, said the report.
The Colombian government promised that the former
guerilla fighters would be treated properly under
the Humanitarian Attention Program to
Demobilization.
Since President Alvaro Uribe, who put the
demobilization of guerrillas in Colombia as his
priority, took office on Aug. 7, 2002, 19,288
Colombian rebels had been disarmed so far.
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