Colombian ELN Lifts Kidnapping Suspension, Blames Government For Failed Agreements

The National Liberation Army (ELN), a Columbian leftist rebel group, Monday announced the suspension of kidnapping, blaming the government for failing to fulfill the promises made in the agreement during peace talks.

The rebel group said that the decision came after the government delayed establishing a multi-donor fund to support the peace process, aiming at ending six decades of armed conflict in the country.

"So far, the fund hasn't been established, the government shows little will to advance in this field," the ELN said in a statement cited by Reuters. "Given the above, the ELN terminates its offer to unilaterally suspend economic detentions."

Colombia's government, on the other hand, clarified in a statement that the fund wasn't intended as an incentive for the ELN to stop kidnapping, noting that the delays occurred because the rebel group called for an additional round of talks.

"We hope the ELN keeps its commitment to Colombian society and the international community to put an end to any form of kidnapping," the government's peace delegation said in the statement.

The statement from ELN came just one week after Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced that hundreds of thousands of bullets, thousands of grenades, and 37 anti-tank missiles had gone missing from two military bases in the country.

The president spoke about the missing ammunition and said that it might end up in the hands of Colombian rebel groups. He said that another possibility was that it might have been illegally sold to criminal organizations in other countries, including gangs in Haiti.

The ELN group split from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia after the government signed a peace deal with them in 2016. Petro, who took over the office in 2022, began peace talks with some of the remaining rebel groups in the country.