At least 16 dead amid clashes between armed groups in Colombia’s Arauca

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BOGOTA (Reuters) – At least 16 folks have been killed in Colombia’s Arauca province amid combating between unlawful armed groups, the nation’s human rights ombudsman stated on Monday, including that 12 households had been displaced.

Fighting broke out over the weekend in Arauca – which sits on the border with Venezuela – as members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) fought with dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who reject a 2016 peace deal. They had been combating over management of unlawful economies corresponding to drug trafficking, Colombia’s military stated in a press release late on Sunday.

The violence harks again to the mid 2000s, when the FARC and ELN fought one another in Arauca and the neighboring Venezuelan state of Apure.

By the time combating ceased in 2010, greater than 58,000 folks had been displaced in the province and at least 868 civilians had been killed, in line with a report from advocacy group Human Rights Watch (HRW), which cited the government-run Colombian Victims’ Unit.

Some 5,000 folks fled Apure on the finish of March final yr amid clashes between Colombian armed groups and the Venezuelan navy.

So far, HRW has acquired stories of 24 deaths because of the violence, the group’s senior investigator for the Americas Juan Pappier stated in a message on Twitter, including that there had additionally been compelled displacements and kidnappings.

“We are very involved in regards to the combating between the ELN and dissidents of the FARC’s tenth entrance in Arauca and Apure,” Pappier stated.

Colombia’s President Ivan Duque convened a gathering of navy and police leaders to evaluate the scenario in Arauca and to take measures to deal with it.

“I’ve ordered that two battalions be deployed throughout the subsequent 72 hours to assist with the duty of territorial management,” Duque stated in a video broadcast.

Colombia’s authorities accuses Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro of harboring FARC dissidents and ELN combatants, one thing Maduro has repeatedly denied.

((*16*) by Oliver Griffin, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)



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