Why did the United States condition the UN in Colombia to end Mordisco’s dissent?

Following the presentation to the UN Security Council of the quarterly report of the Verification Mission in Colombia on the implementation of the ceasefire, the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General in Colombia, Carlos Ruiz Maciu, gave a virtual press conference. where he talked about the terms given by the United States to expand the mission’s mandate which could verify a ceasefire with former FARC dissidents and detailed that the Security Council would visit the country in February.

In reference to: UN calls on Petro to abide by accord with FARC amid total peace

The UN Verification Mission report says that “no cases of ELN ceasefire violations have been confirmed” and has generated noise, especially due to the kidnapping of Luis Diaz’s father, where the guerrillas themselves have claimed responsibility. Why did it reach that conclusion?

The report mentions 170 cases received, some of which have been dismissed and others which are at different stages. That does not mean that incidents cannot occur which can be considered violations. To date there is none, but precisely because the various stages are being completed and we still cannot say clearly and say that there is no rape incident after analyzing 170 cases. But I repeat that this does not mean that there are no events, it means that all phases are not completed.

I would like to highlight two things that demonstrate the importance of verification mechanisms: First, undoubtedly, the prevention of confrontation. That has been key in this process: and the second is conflict resolution. If we see that there is a situation, even if it is not related to the ceasefire, those cases are often addressed.

In addition: “May 2024 is the year of implementation of the peace agreement”: UN representative

How likely is it that verification mechanism reports will be made public? Quarterly deliveries are due and we understand this is done for the table, but when for the public?

As stipulated in the protocol, this report goes to the table to evaluate and make adjustments both to the way the mechanism works, but also to the issue of dissemination. I can tell you that from the United Nations We are very interested in the work of this report or mechanism being circulated for public opinion as widely as possible., with Colombian society and of course through the media. We hope the parties are with us. We are sure we should have much more information.

Can you give us more details about the UN Security Council visit that was announced for February?

More specific details about the visit will certainly be announced more formally by the government and the Security Council in the coming days. For now, it is a visit that is planned for the first half of February. This is a four- to five-day visit that will include meetings with various counterparts of the 2016 agreement. -government and former FARC fighters- to assess on the spot of implementation.

Field visits will also be conducted to see how the implementation is progressing in different areas of the country, the condition of the communities, ethnic chapter and how rural reforms are progressing. The visit included both a national dialogue and a field visit component to carry out this assessment.

This is the third meeting of the Security Council since the signing of the 2016 agreement and the second during my administration. This is a great opportunity for the Security Council to make that assessment and express support for the Colombian peace process and for the parties to share their assessments and how things are going. We are half way through the estimated 15 years for its implementation.

Which areas will the Security Council visit? Is there already information about them?

I am not yet in a position to confirm the exact areas. What I can expect is that it will be, on the one hand, an area where the reintegration process of FARC ex-combatants will take place. It will surely be in one of the old ETCR (Regional Training and Reintegration Spaces). In another area, the goal is to deepen contact with ethnic groups and dialogue with indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities. The agenda is yet to be confirmed.

You may be interested in: The UN Security Council will visit Colombia in February

The United States’ representative to the Security Council conditioned the extension of the UN Verification Mission’s mandate to verify the ceasefire with a dissident group known as the Central General Staff (EMC). How do you read that conditioning?

Indeed, we still do not have a mandate from the Security Council to verify that termination, although it has collectively indicated a willingness to consider giving us that mandate. That’s what we’re going to do Bring information to the council about what’s happening at the negotiating table so it can assess whether or not to mandate us.

At present we are participating as observers.

In reference to: The US Terms of extension of mandate of UN mission to verify termination with dissidents

The United States expressed that, in its view, the dialogue with the EMC and the ceasefire itself were not yet mature enough to involve the Council. This being the case, what they express is that the process is necessary to proceed.

This is a discussion process to renew the ceasefire and framework and focus on the agenda of these dialogues, which we believe in. Other countries have expressed that they are willing to consider expanding the mandate for this process, but Council members have different very valid views and it is up to us to take all those elements into consideration so that they can make the decisions they think are appropriate. Regarding the involvement of the Council of Security and Mission.