BOGOTA: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said that a ceasefire with FARC rebels will end on October 31, as both sides scramble to find a solution to the half-century conflict after voters rejected a peace deal.

The chief of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Rodrigo Londono, better known as Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez, promptly took to Twitter to ask “And after that, the war continues?”

Just a day earlier, he had vowed the guerrillas would continue to observe the ceasefire despite the referendum results.

“I hope we can move forward… to realize the necessary agreement to find a solution to this conflict,” Santos said in a televised address from the presidential palace.

As part of his efforts to salvage the peace deal on which he has staked his legacy, Santos plans to meet with his former boss and current nemesis Alvaro Uribe at the presidential palace at 11:30 am (1630 GMT) Wednesday, officials said.

The high-stakes meeting comes after Colombians on Sunday narrowly voted against a deal Uribe had condemned as too lenient on the leftist guerrillas — throwing the nearly four-year-old peace process into disarray and giving the former president a major victory.

Santos is fighting on two fronts after the unexpected result: he must find a compromise solution acceptable to both the hardliners in Uribe’s camp and the FARC.

The government and the FARC have had a ceasefire in place since August 29, five days after the two sides clinched a peace deal following five years of arduous negotiations in Cuba. The ceasefire had originally been intended to be permanent.

The government’s chief peace negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, has returned to Havana to see whether the FARC is open to revising the deal.

“The decision on whether to open up the agreements is a decision that falls to the FARC,” Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin told a press conference.

Santos has named Holguin, de la Calle and Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas to hold talks with the opposition on salvaging the deal.

Holguin said the government is “fully ready” to listen to the deal’s opponents.

She admitted the government was left scrambling by the surprise referendum result, which flew in the face of opinion polls.

“There was no Plan B. We believed the country wanted peace,” she said.

A United Nations mission tasked with overseeing the disarmament process was also left adrift.

“The mandate for the UN political mission… is for a peace deal. At this point, we don’t have a peace deal,” Holguin told journalists.

The meeting between Santos and Uribe comes after the latter’s right-wing party, the Democratic Center, snubbed emergency talks that Santos convened Monday at the presidential palace to chart a way forward with the country’s top political leaders.

The two men have a complicated history.

Santos served as Uribe’s defense minister from 2006 to 2009, leading a major army offensive against the FARC.

But he shifted gears after succeeding Uribe in 2010, opening peace talks with the weakened rebels — and provoking a falling-out with his former boss, who branded him a traitor.

Santos will also meet with former president Andres Pastrana (1998-2002), another major opponent of the peace deal, an hour before Uribe, his office said.

Both meetings will be held behind closed doors.

Santos said on Twitter he had invited the two former presidents “to dialogue… in a constructive spirit.”

His last known meeting with Uribe was in January 2011, after his government began secret talks with the FARC.

After formal talks with the rebels opened in Cuba in November 2012, Santos repeatedly offered to meet his predecessor, but no sit-down materialized.

The Colombia conflict has killed more than 260,000 people and left 45,000 missing over half a century, drawing in several leftist guerrilla groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug gangs.

The FARC, the oldest and largest rebel group, was set to relaunch as a political party under the peace deal. AFP</s>In a vote that confounded opinion polls and was a disaster for President Juan Manuel Santos, Colombians narrowly rebuffed the pact on Sunday as too lenient on the rebels.

Lead negotiators Humberto de la Calle and Sergio Jaramillo were back at a Havana convention center on Tuesday meeting counterparts from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to see what the rebels are willing to do, the government said.

The Cuban capital was the venue for talks between the two sides since 2012 that reached an accord to end Colombia's 52-year war that has killed around a quarter of a million people.

All sides, including "No" voters, who carried the day on Sunday by less than half a percentage point, say they want an end to war, and the two parties have kept their ceasefire.

But there is vehement opposition - led by hardline former President Alvaro Uribe - to major planks of the previous deal, including guaranteed congressional seats for the FARC and immunity from traditional jail sentences for leaders.

A renegotiation seems to depend on whether the FARC would accept tougher conditions, maybe combined with a softening of Uribe's demands. After years of refusing to meet negotiators, Uribe has now said he is willing to seek a joint solution.

Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin said the decision whether to officially renegotiate the accord lies with the FARC.

On Monday the rebels said they would remain "faithful" to the negotiated accord and Twitter messages from FARC leadership appeared to suggest reluctance to change the terms at this stage.

"The thing is, just as the government has its deal breakers, so does the FARC, so we have to see if it is willing to reopen the accord," Holguin told reporters.

"There was no Plan B, we believed the nation wanted peace."

Three representatives from Uribe's right-wing Democratic Center party are to pore over details with three from the government. In what may turn into a dual negotiation process, those meetings are to commence once de la Calle returns from Cuba.

Colombian financial markets fell on Monday as investors worried that the limbo over the peace deal would hold up fiscal reforms such as tax changes.

Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas, however, said the tax reforms would go ahead.</s>Colombia’s government and Marxist guerrillas went back to the drawing board in Havana on Tuesday after a peace deal they painstakingly negotiated over four years was rejected in a shock referendum result.

In a vote that confounded opinion polls and was a disaster for President Juan Manuel Santos, Colombians narrowly rebuffed the pact on Sunday as too lenient on the rebels.

The government said the president’s lead negotiators, Humberto de la Calle and Sergio Jaramillo, were back at a Havana convention centre on Tuesday meeting Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) counterparts to see if a new deal, stringent enough to satisfy critics, can be hashed out.

The Cuban capital was the venue for talks between the two sides since 2012 that reached an accord to end Colombia’s 52-year war that has killed about a quarter of a million people.

Rescuing the peace deal may be a long and complex process.

Colombian foreign minister Maria Angela Holguin said the decision whether to officially renegotiate the accord lies with the Farc.

“The thing is, just as the government has its deal breakers, so does the Farc, so we have to see if it is willing to reopen the accord,” Ms Holguin told reporters.

All sides, including No voters, who carried the day on Sunday by less than half a percentage point, say they want an end to war, and the two parties have kept their ceasefire.

But there is vehement opposition – led by hardline former president Alvaro Uribe – to major planks of the previous deal, including guaranteed congressional seats for the Farc and immunity from traditional jail sentences for leaders.

A renegotiation seems to depend on whether the Farc would accept tougher conditions, maybe combined with a softening of demands from Mr Uribe. After years of refusing to meet negotiators, Mr Uribe has now said he is willing to seek a joint solution.

Three representatives from his right-wing Democratic Center party are to pore over details with three from the government. In what is turning into a dual negotiation process, those meetings are to commence once Mr de la Calle returns from Cuba.

Colombian financial markets fell on Monday as investors fretted the peace deal limbo would hold up fiscal reforms like tax changes.

Finance minister Mauricio Cardenas, however, said the tax reforms would go ahead.

The peso currency weakened another 0.92 per cent to 2,958 per dollar on Tuesday.</s>Colombian President Jose Manuel Santos announced Tuesday that the ceasefire signed with Marxist rebel group FARC will expire at the end of the month.

"I hope that we can advance in our accords and dialogues so that we can settle on the arrangements, and the agreements that allow us to put in place a solution to this conflict," Santos said in a televised statement.

Colombia was thrown into disarray Sunday after voters narrowly rejected a referendum on the deal brokered between the government and FARC to end a 52-year war. Final results showed a little more than 50% of voters chose "no."

On Wednesday, Santos will meet with opposition leader and former president Alvaro Uribe. Santos will also meet with former president Andrés Pastrana Arango, who also opposed the peace deal.</s>Colombian President Jose Manuel Santos announced Tuesday that the ceasefire signed with Marxist rebel group FARC will expire at the end of the month.

"I hope that we can advance in our accords and dialogues so that we can settle on the arrangements, and the agreements that allow us to put in place a solution to this conflict," Santos said in a televised statement.

Colombia was thrown into disarray Sunday after voters narrowly rejected a referendum on the deal brokered between the government and FARC to end a 52-year war. Final results showed a little more than 50% of voters chose "no."

On Wednesday, Santos will meet with opposition leader and former president Alvaro Uribe. Santos will also meet with former president Andrés Pastrana Arango, who also opposed the peace deal.</s>HAVANA/BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's government and Marxist guerrillas went back to the drawing board in Havana on Tuesday after a peace deal they painstakingly negotiated over four years was rejected in a shock referendum result.

In a vote that confounded opinion polls and was a disaster for President Juan Manuel Santos, Colombians narrowly rebuffed the pact on Sunday as too lenient on the rebels.

Lead negotiators Humberto de la Calle and Sergio Jaramillo were back at a Havana convention center on Tuesday meeting counterparts from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to see what the rebels are willing to do, the government said.

The Cuban capital was the venue for talks between the two sides since 2012 that reached an accord to end Colombia's 52-year war that has killed around a quarter of a million people.

All sides, including "No" voters, who carried the day on Sunday by less than half a percentage point, say they want an end to war, and the two parties have kept their ceasefire.

But there is vehement opposition - led by hardline former President Alvaro Uribe - to major planks of the previous deal, including guaranteed congressional seats for the FARC and immunity from traditional jail sentences for leaders.

A renegotiation seems to depend on whether the FARC would accept tougher conditions, maybe combined with a softening of Uribe's demands. After years of refusing to meet negotiators, Uribe has now said he is willing to seek a joint solution.

Santos and Uribe will meet on Wednesday morning, the president's office said.

Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin said the decision whether to officially renegotiate the accord lies with the FARC.

On Monday the rebels said they would remain "faithful" to the negotiated accord and Twitter messages from FARC leadership appeared to suggest reluctance to change the terms at this stage.

"The thing is, just as the government has its deal breakers, so does the FARC, so we have to see if it is willing to reopen the accord," Holguin told reporters.

"There was no Plan B, we believed the nation wanted peace."

Three representatives from Uribe's right-wing Democratic Center party are to pore over details with three from the government. In what may turn into a dual negotiation process, those meetings are to commence once de la Calle returns from Cuba.

Colombian financial markets fell on Monday as investors worried that the limbo over the peace deal would hold up fiscal reforms such as tax changes.

Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas, however, said the tax reforms would go ahead.</s>Both the Colombian government and FARC rebels declare they remain committed to revive negotiations after voters rejected peace agreement

BOGOTA: Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos opened a new national dialogue Monday to seek peace with FARC rebels as both sides scrambled to revive a peace deal to end the half-century conflict.

In a televised address a day after voters rejected the agreement in a referendum, Santos said he had asked the government’s chief negotiator Humberto de la Calle to “begin discussions as soon as possible addressing all the necessary issues to have an agreement and realize the dream of every Colombian to end the war with the FARC.”

De la Calle had earlier offered his resignation, saying he did not want to be “an obstacle to what comes next.”

Monday’s announcement came after Santos – who has staked his legacy on ending the 52-year-old conflict – called an emergency meeting with leaders of the country’s political parties to try to chart a way forward after Sunday’s shock referendum defeat.

As he arrived, a visibly crestfallen Santos said the meeting would seek “common ground and unity.”

“That’s more important now than ever,” he said.

The leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Rodrigo Londono, meanwhile said in a video from Havana – where the peace talks were held – that the Marxist guerrillas, like the government, remained committed to an ongoing ceasefire.

Londono – better known by the nom de guerre Timoleon ‘Timochenko’ Jimenez – said the rebels were prepared to “fix” the rejected deal.

The result “does not mean the battle for peace is lost,” he said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who had offered a UN team to oversee the disarmament process, said he had “urgently” sent his Colombia envoy to Havana, where the four-year talks have been held, for new consultations.

But the outcome left no clear path to end a conflict that has claimed more than 260,000 lives and left 45,000 missing.

Opinion polls had showed the “Yes” camp well ahead, and negotiators had said there was no Plan B in the event of a “No” vote.

The peace deal had been hailed as historic from the time it was concluded on August 24 to the moment it was signed last week in the presence of Ban and US Secretary of State John Kerry.

But many Colombians resented the blood shed by the Marxist guerrillas and the lenient punishment the deal meted out for their crimes.

Voters rejected the agreement by a razor-thin margin: 50.21 percent for the “No” camp to 49.78 percent for “Yes.”

Voter turnout was low, at just over 37 percent.

Although a referendum was not required to adopt the deal, Santos insisted on holding one to ensure its legitimacy.

The deal, which failed Sunday when Colombians narrowly voted against it, broadly split the country between those who have experienced the war first-hand and those who have mainly watched it on the news, experts said.

“The rural world, which has lived through the conflict, bet on peace. The urban world said ‘No,’” said Ariel Avila of Colombia’s Peace and Reconciliation Foundation.

“Because urban Colombia didn’t live through combat, air strikes… it doesn’t see the need,” for making concessions to the leftist rebels, he told AFP. — AFP</s>Just like 48 per cent of the British people on the morning of 24 June, many Colombians felt a profound shock on Sunday at their country’s decision to narrowly reject a peace deal with the FARC communist paramilitary group. Although fundamentally different to the EU Referendum – Colombia was voting on a deal that would have brought a war spanning 52 years, with more than 260,000 victims, to an end – there are some surprising parallels can be drawn between this vote and Brexit.

Like David Cameron’s bid to keep Britain in the EU, the Colombian referendum was championed by Colombia’s centre-right president Juan Manuel Santos. It was hailed as a defining moment in the country’s history, and just like the Britain Stronger in Europe campaign, had the backing of world leaders, politicians, celebrities and the mainstream media. Even Pope Francis expressed his support in an attempt to win over Colombia’s Catholic population. But it wasn’t enough.

Many Colombians felt a visceral resentment towards a negotiation progress that they felt was indulgent towards the FARC. Details of the negotiation included FARC reforming as a political party and being granted a handful of seats in the national congress. Furthermore, it also ensured amnesty for the majority of the groups fighters, whilst the groups most prolific criminals would face lenient jail sentences. Just like Cameron, Santos was seen as a weak negotiator, being held hostage by those who seek to harm him.

Whilst the peace deal was supported by the political mainstream, figures similar to that of Nigel Farage and former Tory grandees emerged to campaign for a ‘No’ vote. The most obvious example of this was Santos’s predecessor Manuel Úribe, supposedly an ally of the current president, who harnessed his loyal support to rally the country’s rural masses into rejecting the deal. He achieved this by echoing the burning sense of injustice felt by many of the conflicts victims, whilst expressing fears of a communist insurgency was given political credibility.

Just last week, Santos addressed the United Nations hailing the peace deal as a reason for hope, ensuring that “there would now be “one less war on the planet.” Few expressed concern at his rather premature celebrations. Like the Brexit vote, the rejection of the FARC peace deal defied pollster’s expectations, and stunned the country’s political class. Many had predicted the deal would pass in a landslide.

Like Cameron’s decision to hold a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU, Santos’s decision to put the deal to the Colombian people was a risk, and one they have both paid for. Following the result, Santos addressed the nation on Sunday evening to “guarantee the stability of the nation,” and, unlike Cameron, has since vowed to fight on in an attempt to save the peace deal. Although FARC have pledged to maintain the ceasefire, the vote now thrusts Colombia into a period of political uncertainty.

For both David Cameron and Juan Manuel Santos, they believed the only way to gain legitimacy with the wider public was by receiving a mandate for their reforms. Yet as Colombians took to the streets of Cartagena today in protest of the vote, which holds a 0.48 per cent majority, and as many Britain’s still refuse to accept the outcome of the EU referendum, it is clear their quest for unity have only left their peoples more divided.

Ben Kew is an English journalist who currently works for El Tiempo (Colombia)</s>A stunning referendum defeat for a peace deal with leftist rebels leaves Colombians with no Plan B to save an accord that sought to bring an end to a half century of hostilities.

Instead of winning by an almost two-to-one margin on Sunday as pre-election polls had predicted, the accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) lost by a razor-thin margin, 49.8 percent to 50.2 percent.

Both President Juan Manuel Santos and leaders of the FARC, after four years of gruelling negotiations, vowed to push ahead, giving no hint they want to resume a war that has already killed 220,000 people and displaced 8 million.

“I won’t give up. I’ll continue search for peace until the last moment of my mandate,” Santos said in a televised address appealing for calm.

But it’s not clear how the already unpopular Santos can save the deal following the political earthquake, comparable to Britain’s vote to exit the European Union. His chief negotiator, Humberto de la Calle, offered his resignation Monday, assuming what he called “complete responsibility” for the defeat.

It’s unclear whether Santos will accept the offer or, as he previously announced, send him to Cuba with other negotiators to confer with FARC’s top leaders, who watched the results with disbelief after ordering drinks and cigars at Club Havana, once Cuba’s most exclusive beach club.

“The FARC deeply regret that the destructive power of those who sow hatred and revenge have influenced the Colombian people’s opinion,” the FARC’s top commander, a guerrilla known as Timochenko, told reporters.

The loss for the government was even more shocking considering the huge support for the accord among foreign leaders, who have heralded it as a model for a world beset by political violence and terrorism. Many heads of state as well as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry were present when Santos and Timochenko signed the deal less than a week ago in an elaborate, emotion-filled ceremony in the historic city of Cartagena.

“In Cartagena, I witnessed the profound desire of the Colombian people to end the violence,” Ban Ki-moon told reporters in Geneva.

U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby also expressed backing for Santos’ plan for “a broad dialogue” in the search for peace.

“Colombians have expressed their commitment to settle their differences through institutions and dialogue rather than violence,” he said.

Santos’ former boss and chief rival, former President Alvaro Uribe, led the grass-roots campaign against the accord. With none of the government’s huge PR machine, an angry Uribe gave voice to millions of Colombians, many of them victims of the FARC like him, who bristled at provisions in the 297-page accord sparing rebels jail time if they confessed their crimes and instead reserved them 10 seats in Congress.

After the results were in, Uribe insisted on “correctives” that guarantee respect for the constitution, respect for private enterprise and justice without impunity. But he didn’t specify whether he would join Santos in trying to salvage the deal.

The FARC’s 7,000 guerrilla fighters are unlikely to return to the battlefield any time soon. For now, a cease-fire remains in place.

One option for Santos would be to reopen negotiations, something he had ruled out previously and his chief negotiator said would be “catastrophic.”

One of the reasons for the surprise defeat was low turnout, with only 37 percent of the electorate bothering to vote, a further sign to some analysts that Colombians’ enthusiasm for the accord was lacking. The campaign exposed deep rifts in Colombian society, dividing many families. making clear the road to reconciliation would have been long and torturous even had the accord passed. Colombians overwhelmingly loathe the FARC, which the U.S. considers a terrorist group, and many considered the accord an insult to victims of the long-running conflict.

But while urban voters who were being leaned on to pay for the peace largely voted against the accord, victims in many areas hardest hit by the conflict overwhelmingly endorsed it.</s>Colombian President Jose Manuel Santos announced Tuesday that the ceasefire signed with Marxist rebel group FARC will expire at the end of the month.

"I hope that we can advance in our accords and dialogues so that we can settle on the arrangements, and the agreements that allow us to put in place a solution to this conflict," Santos said in a televised statement.

Colombia was thrown into disarray Sunday after voters narrowly rejected a referendum on the deal brokered between the government and FARC to end a 52-year war. Final results showed a little more than 50% of voters chose "no."

On Wednesday, Santos will meet with opposition leader and former president Alvaro Uribe. Santos will also meet with former president Andrés Pastrana Arango, who also opposed the peace deal.
Colombian government and FARC representatives meet in Havana, and President Juan Manuel Santos will meet with presidential predecessors Álvaro Uribe, the accord opposition leader, and Andrés Pastrana Arango, to continue negotiations to end the 52-year war that has killed around a quarter of a million people.