Colombia and ELN Announce the Creation of a Multi-Donor Fund

On Tuesday, the Colombian State and the National Liberation Army (ELN) announced the creation of a Multi-donor Fund for the Peace Process at the end of the 6th cycle of dialogues in Havana, Cuba.

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Vera Grabe, the chief negotiator of Colombian delegation, explained that the fund will strengthen and make sustainable the "activity of the ELN in the construction of peace."

She also emphasized that this multi-donor mechanism was defined in "a transparent manner and with the participation of everyone."

Pablo Beltran, the ELN's chief negotiator, said that the fund will be open to the participation of all States and multilateral organizations that want to contribute to its financing.

Previously, on Monday night, representatives of the Colombian government and the ELN guerrilla announced a new six-month extension of the bilateral ceasefire.

During the 6-month truce, the ELN also committed to unilaterally and temporarily suspend economic detentions. This decision occurs pending other agreements that allow the ELN to commit even more to other areas of the ceasefire.

"The ceasefire continues to be refined," said Beltran, who explained that this decision is very complex because paramilitary activities increased during the first six months of the truce.

Regarding the latter, Grabe stressed that the ELN's decision to suspend withholdings for economic purposes is a "fundamental and historic step" that deserves to be valued.

The sixth cycle of talks between the parties began on January 22 and also made it possible to reach agreements on the design of civil society participation in the dialogue process.