Colombia's ELN rebels free six more hostages amid peace talks plea
- Published
The ELN is Colombia's largest rebel group
Colombia's largest rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN), has released six hostages, including two police officers and four civilians, officials say.
The hostages were handed over to members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in a rural area near the Venezuelan border on Sunday.
The left-wing ELN had freed two other civilians on Friday.
The releases follow appeals from the rebels for peace talks to be resumed.
The government suspended negotiations with the group last year after a bomb attack on a police academy in the capital, Bogotá, killed more than 20 people.
President Iván Duque says the release of all hostages and the end of kidnappings and attacks are pre-conditions for talks. The group is believed to be holding at least 10 more hostages, according to the government.
Sunday's releases were carried out in two separate operations in the north-eastern North Santander province. The hostages were found in "adequate health conditions,", external the ICRC said in a statement (in Spanish).
The police officers - reportedly aged 21 and 22 - were kidnapped on 31 March while one of the civilians - a woman - had been held for four months, authorities said.
Allow Twitter content?
This article contains content provided by Twitter. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read Twitter’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.
On Friday, two employees of an oil-services company in the province of Arauca, which is also close to the border with Venezuela, were released after 36 days.
The ELN is much smaller than Colombia's more well-known Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc), which is now no longer considered a rebel group after it signed a peace agreement with the government in 2016.
Who are the ELN rebels?
The 2,000-strong guerrilla group was founded in 1964 to fight against Colombia's unequal distribution of land and riches, inspired by the Cuban revolution of 1959
Over the decades, the group has attacked large landholders and multinational companies, and repeatedly blown up oil pipelines
To finance itself it has resorted to extortion, kidnappings and drug trafficking
It has been strongest in rural areas
It is considered a terrorist group by Colombia, the United States and the European Union
More about Colombia's armed conflict
"I don't want to take it... I know what is in it": Two Colombian cocaine farmers talk to a UK user
- Published21 May 2020
- Published23 April 2020
