60 paramilitaries not to be pardoned
About 60 of the 4,820 demobilized members of United Self-Defense of Colombia (AUC) will not be pardoned, a senior government official said on Wednesday.

The demobilized AUC members were staying in Santa Fe de Ralito of Cordoba department, headquarters of the peace talks between the AUC and the government, said High Presidential Commissioner of Peace Luis Carlos Restrepo.

Those who committed crimes will not be pardoned and were waiting for the Congress' decision on the "Justice and Peace" bill, proposed by the government to grant a pardon to those illegal fighters who did not commit heinous crimes, he said.

Restrepo also said all members of the paramilitary group shall hand over their weapons by year's end according to the agreement signed with the government.

The bill also proposes a five-to-eight jail terms for those who are found guilty of such crimes as slaughtering and homicides. It was approved in committee in both chambers of the Congress on late Tuesday and shall get past the full house in both the Senate and the House of Representatives before it becomes law. Debates will begin in the coming weeks.

Interior and Justice Minister Sabas Pretelt de la Vega said the government will present a new edition of the bill with significant changes.

The AUC is now engaged in peace negotiations with the government, but it has threatened to quit the talks and retake arms if they face lengthy prison terms or extradition.

The 20,000-strong AUC has its origins in vigilante groups set up by cattle ranchers and drug traffickers to combat left-wing guerrillas.

The country has been locked in a four-decade civil war, the longest in Latin America, in which government forces, leftist guerrillas and far-right paramilitaries fight one another. The conflicts kill more than 3,000 people every year.