CAMPAIGNERS have welcomed the ceasefire deal reached between the Colombian government and guerillas as “an important step for peace in Colombia.”

The deal, reached on Friday in Cuba, sets up a six-month halt to hostilities in the latest attempt to resolve a conflict dating back to the 1960s.

The government and the National Liberation Army (ELN) announced the accord at a ceremony in Havana attended by Colombian President Gustavo Petro, top guerilla commander Antonio Garcia and Cuban officials. 

The ceasefire takes effect in phases, going fully into effect in August and then lasts for six months.

Top negotiator for the Marxist-Leninist rebel group Pablo Beltran said at the ceremony: “This effort to look for peace is a beacon of hope that conflicts can be resolved politically and diplomatically.”

The accord also calls for the formation of a broadly representative national committee by late July to discuss proposals for a lasting peace.

Mr Petro said: "You have here a proposed  bilateral agreement, and I agree with that. But Colombian society has to be able to debate it, and to participate.”

Mr Garcia, the rebel commander, said his group was very confident in the accord, though he characterised it as procedural and not yet the substantial kind needed for Colombia to change.

Campaigners from the London-based Justice for Colombia group tweeted on Saturday: “The ceasefire agreed between the government and ELN guerillas is an important step for peace in Colombia.

“International support will be key to bringing peace to communities still impacted by conflict.” 

The parties agreed that the United Nations and the Catholic Church will monitor compliance with the ceasefire, and every two months there will be a follow-up meeting.

Negotiations between the sides resumed in August after being ended in 2019 when the rebels set off a car bomb at a police academy in Bogota, killing 21 people.

Following that incident, the government of then-president Ivan Duque issued arrest warrants for ELN leaders attending the negotiations in Cuba. But Cuba refused to extradite them, arguing that doing so would compromise its status as a neutral nation in the conflict and break with diplomatic protocols.

Talks relaunched in November shortly after Mr Petro was elected as Colombia's first leftist president.

The next cycle of negotiations between the ELN and the Colombian government will take place in Caracas, Venezuela, from August 14 to September 4.