Colombia to Destroy Confiscated Weapons
The Colombian government is to destroy thousands of arms handed in by demobilized right-wing paramilitary groups, Colombia's Commission of Reparation and Reconciliation said on Friday.

A total of 18,000 rifles, machine guns and grenade launchers, as well as nearly 3 million bullets, are to be melted down in December during several ceremonies attended by victims of the paramilitary groups, commission chief Eduardo Pizarro said.

Since the government and the paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia reached a peace deal in 2003, more than 30,000 guerrillas have handed in their weapons and renounced violence in exchange for a180-U.S.-dollar monthly stipend, a reduction of prison sentences and other benefits, significantly reducing the formerly common acts of kidnap and murder in the country.

Pizarro also said that police and prosecutors were creating a ballistic database of the seized weapons, so that their destruction wouldn't hamper the investigation and prosecution of guerrillas accused of killing civilians using these weapons.