AFP, Sept. 26, 2016 – Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos and the leader of the FARC rebels, Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez, are due to sign a historic peace deal Monday to end a five-decade war.
The former enemies will sign the accord at 5:00 pm (2200 GMT) at a ceremony in the colorful colonial city of Cartagena on the Caribbean coast, the government said.
Santos will open the day’s events with a tribute to the Colombian military and police at 8:00 am, followed by a prayer for peace and reconciliation at an 18th-century Catholic church in Cartagena’s old town.
The guests will include UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, US Secretary of State John Kerry and an array of Latin American leaders — notably Cuban President Raul Castro, whose country hosted the nearly four-year-long peace talks that produced a final deal on August 24.
The 2,500 expected attendees have been invited to wear white.
Once the peace agreement is signed between the rebels and the government, the European Union will temporarily suspend the FARC from its list of terrorist organizations, the bloc’s ambassador in Bogota, Ana Paula Zacarias, told RCN television.