A Look at What’s Next in the Colombian Peace Process

“The decision, Colombians, is in your hands”.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC Commander-in-Chief Rodrigo Londono Echeverri, alias Timochenko, will sign the official peace agreement in a symbolic ceremony in September in Colombia, as agreed in June, and in the presence of an estimated 15 presidents of various countries that may include U.S. President Barack Obama. “There is an important task ahead for the U.N.to assist the government of Colombia in implementing the peace agreement, which is a historic occasion”. The deal, reached on Wednesday in Havana, Cuba, brings an end to more than 50 years of conflict – the longest internal armed conflict in the western hemisphere.

The landmark deal will still need to be approved by a majority of Colombians in a referendum set for October 2.

That law clearly states that Congress must be notified of the date of the peace referendum, according to Santos, who said he therefore also presented Lizcano with a letter authorizing the plebiscite to be held on October 2.

Numerous group’s top commanders were killed during the conflict seeing thousands of foot soldiers abandon their posts.

More than 220,000 people were killed in the conflict, tens of thousands disappeared and millions fled their homes to escape the violence. Several carried candles and were dressed in white to symbolize peace while a giant red, blue and yellow national flag was carried through the crowd.

From then on, the 7,000 former rebels will have to win votes like any other party, Mr Santos said.

Last-minute government concessions included guarantees that the FARC’s still-unnamed political movement will have a minimum of 10 seats in congress for two legislative periods.

The Colombian government and the leftist FARC rebel group have signed a historic peace agreement ending a five-decade war.

Both the White House and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton congratulated Colombia on the deal and promised USA support for implementing it.

Colombia’s government has published the final text of the peace accord and it weighs in at nearly 300 pages.

The rebel army was forced to the negotiating table after a decade of heavy battlefield losses that saw a succession of top rebel commanders killed by the US -backed military and the its ranks thinned by half to the current 7,000 troops.

Over the past few days, the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have been discussing a range of unresolved topics, and worked late into the night Tuesday to draft a joint statement, sources from the two delegations told AFP in Havana. “We do not want there to be one more victim in Colombia”.

There are some Colombians though who are a bit skeptical about the terms of the agreement and whether FARC rebels will be ready to serve jail time for crimes they committed during the war.

Santos’ plebiscite is not without risks.

Santos’s top rival, former president Alvaro Uribe, is leading a campaign to vote “No” in the referendum, arguing his successor has given too much away to the FARC. That is the lowest since he took office in 2010.