BOGOTA: Colombia and leftist FARC rebels have reached agreement on a bilateral ceasefire and the end to hostilities at peace talks in Cuba, a FARC negotiator and a source at the peace commissioner's office said on Wednesday.
Agreement on the third point of the negotiating agenda would be a major step forward in efforts by the two sides to end 50 years of war that have killed 220,000 people and displaced millions.
The source said the formal accord on the point will be signed Thursday by President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC rebel leader Rodrigo Londono, better known by his nom de guerre Timochenko. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Chilean president Michelle Bachelet will attend the ceremony.
The deal will lay out how and where the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels will demobilize and give up their arms after a final deal is reached, the source said.
"So that the horrible night ends and the path to peace and hope opens.
Thursday 23 June we announce," FARC negotiator Luis Antonio Losada, known as Carlos Lozada, said on Twitter.
"The Technical Sub-commission has turned in a proposal for an agreement on a ceasefire, end to hostilities and giving up arms." Santos said this week the government and the rebels will complete more than three years of negotiations by July 20.
The ceasefire may not begin until the final deal is signed. Santos has promised that any deal will be approved or rejected by Colombians in a referendum and has come under fire over the past week for comments about what he says will be the consequences if the country returns to war. Once there is agreement on the third agenda point, the only remaining topic is how exactly the referendum will be organized.
FARC called a unilateral ceasefire nearly a year ago and the government responded by halting air strikes on rebel camps.
Negotiators missed a self-imposed deadline for signing the final accord in March.
Santos has said peace will add as much as 2 percentage points annually to economic growth, but analysts say the improved security situation in recent years means the so-called 'peace dividend' will only add 0.3 percent annually.
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