Colombia’s president and the head of the country’s biggest rebel group signed an agreement on Monday ending a half-century of conflict, though Colombian voters could still reject the deal in a referendum on Sunday.
President Juan Manuel Santos and Rodrigo Londoño, the leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (the FARC) who is better known by his alias Timochenko, used pens made from the casings of bullets used in combat to sign the accord that took four years to negotiate.
Around 15 heads of state from Latin America, as well as UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon, and Secretary of State John Kerry, were in the walled colonial city of Cartagena to witness the ceremony in which almost everybody wore white.
After both the president and the rebel leader had signed the peace accord on a white stage, Santos gave Timochenko the gift of a pin of a white dove, before they warmly shook hands to applause. – READ MORE
