By Esteban Israel

HAVANA, Oct 26 (Reuters) - Colombia's government and its second-largest leftist guerrilla group agreed on Thursday on a framework for peace negotiations, but were still at loggerheads over a cease-fire to end four decades of fighting.

At a fourth round of exploratory peace talks in Cuba, a Colombian peace envoy and commanders of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, said they agreed to discuss amnesty for the rebel group's members, the release of kidnapped hostages and a humanitarian deal for millions of refugees displaced by violence.

But Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo said formal peace talks could not begin until the 5,000-member ELN stopped shooting and kidnapping people.

"The peace agenda requires concrete steps in terms of ELN military actions ... failing that, the process will not move ahead," Restrepo told reporters.

Restrepo said a guerrilla cease-fire could lead to legal political status for the ELN.

The ELN's top military commander, Antonio Garcia, said the government was seeking a unilateral cease-fire by the rebels before sitting down to the negotiating table.

"The end of hostilities implies a cease-fire on both sides and agreement on verification, territorial positions and movements," Garcia told Reuters in an interview.

A joint statement by Restrepo and Garcia said they made progress in hammering out a framework for peace negotiations in "a climate of constructive dialogue and political maturity."

European observers attending the talks said it was too early to consider this a peace process.

Restrepo will meet again with the ELN in Havana in November or December to continue thrashing out a peace agenda.

The last peace talks with the ELN hosted by Cuba broke down in December 2002 after the sides failed to agree on a framework for negotiations.

The ELN insurgency was begun in 1964 by radical students and Catholic priests inspired by Fidel Castro's triumphant guerrilla struggle in Cuba. It is demanding political reforms in Colombia to broaden democratic participation in what it considers a state ruled by wealthy elites.

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's U.S.-backed government has gained popularity by making cities safer and cracking down on the largest guerrilla group, the 17,000-strong Revolutionary Armed Force of Colombia, or FARC.

He has also disbanded right-wing paramilitaries. But peace remains elusive with the FARC, which controls wide rural areas and finances itself with profits from the cocaine trade.

The ELN has relied on kidnappings and extortion, mainly in the oil-producing province of Arauca. It is holding about 300 hostages, three dozen kidnapped since the talks began a year ago.

AlertNet news is provided by

Delicio.us  |   Digg  |   NewsVine  |   Reddit                                                                                  Permalink