MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) will continue fighting against Colombian armed forces even as the first stage of the minefield clearance is about to begin, FARC negotiator Rodrigo Granada said Sunday.
"Three or four [pilot] zones will be selected, but at this stage mine disposal is [largely] of humanitarian nature. Our people deep in the forest will not stop defending themselves", FARC negotiator Rodrigo Granada said, as cited by El Universal newspaper.
Granada, also known as "Ricardo Téllez," was speaking ahead of a fresh round of peace negotiations between FARC and the Colombian government in La Havana.
The FARC negotiator added they will start removing landmines first in the areas that require humanitarian assistance.
He also complained it was difficult to locate landmines because "in such an intractable conflict those who planted the landmines might have died in combat and the trace was lost."
On Saturday, the Colombian government and the FARC discussed technical details of the implementation of peace accords that were reached in Cuba earlier in March. These accords stipulate landmine clearance procedures which will be supervised by an Oslo-based non-profit Norwegian People's Aid.
Colombia is considered to be one of the most landmine-contaminated countries in the world, according to International Crisis Group think tank. An estimated 11,000 people have been killed or maimed in landmine explosions since FARC insurgency began in the early 1990s.
