More deaths as Colombian guerrilla violence displaces nearly 50,000 / Photo: © AFP
More deaths as Colombian guerrilla violence displaces nearly 50,000
A new bout of fighting between two guerrilla groups in northeastern Colombia, where violence has displaced nearly 50,000 people in 10 days, claimed 13 lives this weekend, authorities said Monday.
The toll brought to 54 the total number of confirmed deaths from fighting in the cocaine-growing Catatumbo region -- lower than the figure of about 80 reported last week based on local counts, officials said.
The government has vowed "war" against the left-wing guerrillas, declaring a state of emergency and deploying some 10,000 soldiers to contain the violence that threatens to scupper a fragile national peace process.
In just five days from January 16, bloodshed was reported across three Colombian departments -- from the remote Amazon jungle in the south to the mountainous northeastern border with Venezuela.
Analysts say the spasm of violence in Catatumbo was caused by a turf war between the ELN guerrilla group and a rival formation comprised of ex-members of the now-defunct FARC guerrilla force which disarmed under a 2016 peace pact.
The ELN and FARC dissidents vie for territory and control of lucrative coca plantations and trafficking routes in the Catatumbo region, which President Gustavo Petro is due to visit later Monday.
The governor's office of Norte de Santander department, of which Catatumbo forms part, said the 13 dead reported Monday appeared to all be FARC dissidents.
Military intelligence sources say the ELN is seeking to wipe out a FARC dissident group known as the 33rd Front, once an ally in Catatumbo.
The latest toll raised to 48,000 the number of people forced to leave their homes, on top of 11 wounded and 12 missing, according to the governor's office.
The world's biggest cocaine producer, Colombia has enjoyed almost a decade of relative peace since the FARC laid down arms, seeking to end decades of civil war that killed some 450,000 people.
But pockets of the country are still controlled by assorted left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries and drug cartels vying for territory and trafficking routes.
Colombia reactivated arrest warrants for top ELN commanders last week, and Petro has called off peace negotiations with the group.
N.Taylor--TNT
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