BREAKING NEWS

Santos to ask Congress for powers to disarm FARC

Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos announced on Friday  that he would call for extraordinary sessions in Congress in order to disarm FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) rebels.
"I will call for extra sessions in Congress to approve a change in the law, in order to allow the President, that today has no such legal power, to initiate the procedures to disarm the FARC in the negotiated sites," said Santos while meeting with ministers, peace talk negotiators and international advisers in Cartagena.
In September the Colombian government and FARC rebels agreed the leftist guerrillas would lay down arms within 60 days of signing a peace deal in Havana - the site of the talks - which now has an official deadline of March 23, 2016.
If a peace deal is signed it would end a conflict that has killed 220,000 and displaced millions over half a century.