Image copyright AFP Image caption Farc guerrillas have almost all arrived in their concentration zones across the country

Families on Colombia's border with Venezuela have been displaced by criminal former paramilitary groups trying to fill the vacuum left by the departure of Farc rebels, the UN says.

Officials said 96 families in the northern region of Norte de Santander had fled their homes.

Some crossed the border into Venezuela and others went to refuges in local Colombian towns, the UN said.

The government has denied any families have been forced across the border.

Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin was quoted by local media as saying there was "no certainty of any such displacement" although she conceded that there had been some internal displacement in the Norte de Santander area.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption The Colombian military is reported to be finding it difficult to take over in more isolated regions because of the problems of terrain and lack of access

The UN said tension was high in the area and they feared more families could flee.

According to the UN, various groups operate or have operated in the region: the Farc, Colombia's second largest guerrilla group, the ELN, and criminal and former paramilitary groups.

Officials said people are fleeing because illegal armed groups are trying to take over the mining and cocaine trade which had provided the Farc with an income.

Norte de Santander has emerged as the country's main hub for coca cultivation.

Last week peasant farmer organisations in the region around Catatumbo blocked the demobilisation of Farc units saying that their departure would leave them unprotected as the paramilitary groups gathered nearby.

There have also been reports by local communities of an increased presence of criminal groups in at least three other departments: Antioquia, Uraba and Choco.

The Farc - which signed a peace accord with the government last year - has largely left towns and rural areas it occupied and most of the fighters have gathered in 26 concentration zones under the watch of a multinational commission.

The Colombian military is finding it difficult to take control in more isolated regions because of the problems of terrain and lack of access, the government's Peace and Reconciliation Foundation says.

The Farc is expected to hand over its arms by the end of May.

It has agreed to co-operate with investigations into drug trafficking and war crimes.

The armed conflict in Colombia has resulted in more than 220,000 deaths and 40,000 people missing over the past 50 years.

All sides have been accused of war crimes including massacres, torture and rape.

More than six million people have been displaced - the second highest number in the world after Syria.</s>* Proposed bill being debated as peace talks take place in Cuba

Nov 27 The United Nations warned on Tuesday that a proposed constitutional reform in Colombia could lead to soldiers and police being let off the hook for alleged war crimes committed during the country's long-running conflict.

The office of U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called on President Juan Manuel Santos and the head of Congress Roy Barreras to "reconsider" their support for the reform.

The proposed changes to the military justice system come amid peace talks with FARC rebels aimed at ending five decades of war, in which tens of thousands of people have died and millions have been displaced.

"If adopted, this reform would seriously undermine previous efforts undertaken by the Colombian government to ensure that human rights violations, allegedly committed by members of the Colombian military and police forces, are duly investigated and perpetrators held to account," U.N. rights spokeswoman Cecile Pouilly told a news briefing in Geneva.

Under the proposed bill, war crimes and arbitrary detention carried out by the army or police would be tried in military courts. Determination of the crimes would be handled by a military body, "with the consequent risk of impunity", she said.

Crimes against humanity and most gross violations would be excluded from the military criminal jurisdiction, she said.

But a preliminary investigation phase, essential for clarifying facts and identifying suspects, would be conducted by military or police criminal justice institutions, rather than an independent evaluation by competent judicial authorities.

Independent U.N. rights investigators, who report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, warned last month that military and police forces suspected of war crimes could escape prosecution under the proposed constitutional reforms.

"Noting that this bill comes at a time when the government and the FARC guerrillas are in the middle of peace negotiations, we wish to stress that transitional justice mechanisms are available for Colombia to address the serious human rights and humanitarian law violations that occurred and continue occurring during the internal armed conflict," Pouilly said.

"Only justice can bring true peace and reconciliation." (Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Jason Webb)</s>After a 64-year-old activist, Porofirio Jaramillo, was dragged from his home and murdered by four men on motorbikes, the head of the Colombian government’s victims unit did not mince his words. The country was facing a massacre in slow motion, he warned.

The attack on Jaramillo was the 17th murder of a community leader since Colombia signed a peace deal with the Farc (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia ) rebels last December. The agreement won President Juan Manuel Santos a Nobel peace prize, for offering a country racked by half a century of war the prospect of security again.But for many activists, politicians and campaigners seeking to shape the new Colombia, peace has proved more dangerous than war, as they have been picked off by assassinations. The killings grew more frequent even as the government and guerrillas lurched slowly towards a deal, with about 100 murdered last year as the final negotiations were hammered out.

“We are extremely worried about these acts, because the truth is that social leaders are being massacred,” said Alan Jara, who heads the Victims Unit seeking reparations for the eight million people caught up in the war. “Their work is completely legal, and we should be providing them with state protection for their lives and conditions so they can continue with their work, in pursuit of better living conditions for their communities,” he told journalists after news of Jaramillo’s killing was reported.

Violence is spreading particularly fast in areas abandoned by guerrillas under the peace deal because the promised state security forces have not arrived.

There is little clarity about who is behind the killings, but areas once held by guerrillas are often places where illegal mining or farming of coca – the raw ingredient for cocaine – make a tempting target for armed gangs or dissident rebels who refused to hand in their guns.

And the pace of the killings is feeding fears here that a government which battled long and hard for a peace deal is being dangerously lax about making paper plans a reality.

“They are leaving a power vacuum, even though this was anticipated. The government said they were going to move the armed forces into these zones and they haven’t. And the people in these areas are very concerned,” said Marc Chernick, director of the centre for Latin American studies at Georgetown University in Washington.

“This is critical to consolidating the peace agreement. If they can’t bring control and stop the assassinations it’s going to be very hard for this process to move forward. I think everyone understands this, but yet we are not seeing the government responding adequately.”

Hanging over the country is the memory of another peace deal and another massacre 30 years ago. Around 3,000 members of the leftwing Unión Patriótica were murdered, effectively sinking that agreement and leaving a deep scar on the national psyche.

Human rights groups are certain the killings are intended to “intimidate society as the peace process advanced in Colombia, and political alternatives increase,” the Centre for Historical Memory noted in a response to a round of killings in November, including a grandmother gunned down on the school run.

The headline of their statement bluntly spelt out worries that another peace deal could be at risk. “Don’t let a genocide like the UP killings happen again,” it warned.

At the heart of much of the violence are land rights and the country’s multi-billion-dollar cocaine industry, which for years helped fund the Farc. During the years of war large swaths of land were seized by ranchers, drug traffickers and armed groups themselves, who have little interest in relinquishing it.

The peace deals envisages the dismantling of the drugs trade, with the Farc helping persuade farmers in areas it once controlled to switch to other crops, and the return of land to farmers who once owned it.

But armed criminal groups are eager to take over the trade where the government does not replace Farc soldiers rapidly enough. Some are already reportedly trying to sign up former guerrillas with monthly salaries three times their government reintegration stipend.

In one corner of the country, Chocó, the security vacuum had such devastating consequences that in November residents begged the country’s only remaining guerrilla group, the ELN, to take control of the area left by the Farc, Spain’s El País newspaper reported.

The Catholic church has also weighed in. Earlier this month the bishop of Apartado, a town on the north coast, put out a fierce statement warning the government that whole swathes of the country were at risk of spiralling out of control.

“We can see the region is being consumed by forced displacement, drug trafficking, youth gangs, environmental destruction and an increase in illegal mining,” Bishop Hugo Alberto Torres Marín said.

“We cannot forget what has happened in the past and threatens to repeat itself, the tragic history of systematic assassination of so many people committed to bringing social and political change.”

The government has promised to send nearly 70,000 troops to areas once held by the Farc. But it is still not clear when they will be deployed and in the areas at risk there is a sense that time is running out.

“Ultimately the problem is one of time, and a question of who has more initiative. While the government forces are adapting to the new situation, armed groups are in an atmosphere conducive to growing their thriving illegal businesses,” the Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation said.

“Either everything that sounds so good on paper must be put into practice, or it will be too late for many areas, where a new enemy is lurking.”</s>Families on Colombia's border with Venezuela have been displaced by illegal groups trying to fill the vacuum left by the departure of Farc rebels, the UN says.

Officials said 96 families in the northern region of Norte de Santander had fled their homes.

Some crossed the border into Venezuela and others went to refuges in local towns.

The UN said tension was high and they feared more families could flee.

According to the UN, various groups operate or have operated in the region: the Farc, Colombia's second largest guerrilla group, the ELN, and criminal and ex-paramilitary groups.

Norte de Santander has emerged as the country's main hub for coca cultivation.

Last week, peasant farmer organisations in the region, around Catatumbo, blocked the demobilisation of Farc units saying that their departure would leave them unprotected as the paramilitary groups gathered nearby.

There have also been reports by local communities of an increased presence of criminal groups in at least three other departments: Antioquia, Uraba and Choco.

The Farc has largely left towns and rural areas it occupied and most of the fighters have gathered in 26 concentration zones under the watch of a multinational commission.

The Colombian military have moved into some territories in Tolima and Huila departments but, according to the government's Peace and Reconciliation Foundation, it is proving difficult to take over in more isolated regions because of the problems of terrain and lack of access.

The Farc is expected to hand over its arms by the end of May.

It has agreed to co-operate with investigations into drug trafficking and war crimes.

The armed conflict in Colombia has resulted in more than 220,00 deaths and 40,000 people missing over the past 50 years.

All sides have been accused of war crimes including massacres, torture and rape.

More than six million people have been displaced - the second highest number in the world after Syria.

And 11,000 people have been killed or maimed by land mines - a causality rate second only to Afghanistan.</s>* Every past negotiation has ended in failure

BOGOTA, Oct 14 Colombia's government and Marxist rebels will sit down this week to start peace talks aimed at ending nearly half a century of conflict after a 10-year military offensive against the guerrillas failed to deliver a coup de grace.

President Juan Manuel Santos is attempting what many other leaders have tried but failed to do in the past - reach a negotiated deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and bring peace to Latin America's No. 4 economy.

The former defense minister has seen his popularity slide over the last year with former President Alvaro Uribe, for long a close ally, leading criticism that Santos has been too soft on the FARC. But a peace agreement before the next election in 2014 would all but guarantee Santos a second term.

While security has improved by leaps and bounds since a U.S.-backed offensive against FARC rebels and drug barons began a decade ago, the security forces have been unable to land a decisive blow. The FARC is still a threat and, although weakened, it has stepped up its attacks in the last few years.

Analysts say it is clear the conflict cannot be won by military means alone and the government has a greater chance of negotiating an end to the war from a position of strength than of completely wiping out the rebels.

"We take on these talks with moderate optimism but with the absolute conviction that it is an opportunity that we cannot waste," Santos told the U.N. General Assembly late last month.

Nearly two years of secret talks in Cuba led to the formal discussions, which start in Norway this week and then move to Havana. Santos hopes the peace process can be successful within months.

For many in rural Colombia, the stakes could not be higher.

"We're the ones who suffer, our families, our parents," said

Sara Munoz, a 39-year-old mother of two children who is selling her house to get away from the violence in the province of Cauca. "We have to leave our houses, leaving our homes abandoned to flee to another part because we have children."

At primary schools in Cauca, school children have regular safety drills, falling to the ground and huddling together as teachers mimic the sound of gunfire outside.

There is still frequent fighting in the province and Colombian troops that patrol its unpaved roads in armored vehicles nickname it "Cauca-kistan," comparing the fighting there with the war in Afghanistan.

Rumors of talks with the FARC - Colombia's largest insurgent group - have swirled since Santos took office in 2010 and he made early steps to kick-start a peace process with reforms giving land back to peasants displaced by the conflict and paying reparations to its victims.

The failure of the last round of talks a decade ago, when the government ceded territory the size of Switzerland to the FARC and still couldn't reach a deal, hangs over Santos' head, but he insists he won't repeat past mistakes.

Aware he cannot afford to be seen as soft, Santos has refused the FARC's call for a ceasefire once the peace talks start and instead vowed to step up military operations.

The talks will focus mainly on land reform, drug trafficking and political participation.

Possible sticking points include deciding which FARC leaders will be allowed to participate in politics, who will or will not go to jail for war crimes, and what can be done on land reform since every attempt since the 1960s has failed.

Security guarantees will also be crucial as the rebels remember the mass murder of members of the Union Patriotica - a political party accused of links to the FARC - in the 1980s by right-wing death squads.

Right-wing paramilitary groups formed in the 1980s to protect wealthy landowners and drug traffickers from rebels complicated previous efforts to negotiate peace but they have demobilized in the last few years.

Some mid-level former commanders have morphed the old structures into new drug gangs with links to their former enemies, the FARC. They are more concerned with business now than ideology, but could still cause problems as the government tries to pacify the country.

There are also worries about divisions within the FARC and a possible fragmentation if the peace talks advance, e specially in the guerrilla army's powerful southern front, which is heavily involved in the drug trade.

The ultra-right and ultra-left "are hard obstacles because here there is not only debate but shooting," said Leon Valencia, a former member of a small rebel group who now heads the Nuevo Arco Iris think-tank.</s>After nearly five decades, President Juan Manuel Santos, under criticism for a perceived deterioration in security, has launched the latest attempt to negotiate a deal with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebels.

Santos' office said the rebels and the government continued to hold meetings despite the delays, but pushed back a scheduled press conference to Thursday from Wednesday.

"We reiterate compliance with the date for peace (talks) in Colombia of October 17, developing an agenda that will culminate on the 18th in the afternoon Oslo time with the public installation and press conference," the statement said.

The two sides agreed in August to begin negotiations in Oslo in the first two weeks of October before moving to Cuba for the substantive part of their talks, the latest attempt after several failed peace negotiations since the 1980s.

It was not immediately clear whether the FARC or government delegations had left for Oslo. The parties were expected to arrive at the weekend for preliminary meetings, but their departures were delayed by heavy rains in Colombia and other problems.

FARC leaders have said there were delays in lifting warrants for some FARC delegates, and Colombian news reports have indicated a conflict about the composition of the FARC delegation, particularly the inclusion of Dutch national Tanja Nijmeijer.

A spokesman for Interpol said Colombia had asked for the lifting of so-called "red notices," much like warrants, on several FARC members.

But Bogota only controls its own notices, and there is a notice filed by the United States for Nijmeijer, alias Alexandra, which has not been lifted, the spokesman said.

In a statement published on Monday, the FARC insisted it had the right to select team members and said Nijmeijer would be part of the delegation. But it was not clear if she would travel to Oslo or would only take part in the Cuban leg of talks.

A 10-year military offensive has dramatically weakened the FARC but has been unable to end the conflict, leaving President Juan Manuel Santos vulnerable ahead of elections in 2014.

Negotiations in Oslo are expected to focus on laying the groundwork for later discussions in Cuba, which would then focus mainly on land, drugs and political participation issues.

Norway and Cuba have agreed to act as guarantors at the talks while representatives from Venezuela and Chile would accompany the talks.</s>The last 300 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, also known as FARC, began disarming on Sunday in a transition zone arranged as part of a peace agreement last year.

The Colombian government and FARC agreed in November to end a conflict that had stretched on for nearly 52 years and killed more than 200,000 people.

About 7,000 members of the FARC, Colombia’s largest rebel group, began moving this week from jungle camps toward 26 safe zones established as part of the peace agreement.

FARC was formed in 1964 as an armed offshoot of the Communist Party by farmers dissatisfied with issues of inequality in the country. The group followed a Marxist-Leninist doctrine.

The United Nations credited the group’s leadership for backing the camps that would allow FARC members to transition to civilian life, also stating that the move would reduce the risk of new incidents of armed contact.

Voters in Colombia narrowly rejected a referendum in October to forge an peace deal with FARC they said did not go far enough to hold the rebel group accountable after years of fighting. But a revised version allowed President Juan Manuel Santos to forge a peace agreement with the rebels a month later, ending more than a half-century of conflict that had displaced millions of people.</s>BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) - Officials say roughly 6,900 members Colombia's largest rebel group have arrived in special transition zones to begin disarming, completing a key step in a revised peace deal that seeks to end more than five decades of armed conflict.

A statement issued Saturday by the peace process' Monitoring and Verification Mechanism said the final 300 Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia fighters had arrived at a zone in Caqueta province.

Thousands of combatants, traveling from their jungle camps by foot, vehicles or boat, have gathered in recent weeks in more than 20 demobilization areas where they will begin turning over their weapons to United Nations-sponsored monitors.

Carolina Azevedo, chief of communications for the U.N mission in Colombia, confirmed that the movement of the rebel fighters to the zones had been completed.

President Juan Manuel Santos signed a revised peace agreement with the FARC in November after an initial accord was rejected by voters in a referendum.</s>President Juan Manuel Santos, facing criticism on security issues, has launched the latest attempt to negotiate a deal with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.

Santos' office said the rebels and the government continued to hold meetings despite the delays, but pushed back a scheduled news conference to Thursday from Wednesday. A statement from his office said the peace talks would begin on Wednesday in Oslo.

The two sides agreed in August to begin negotiations in Oslo in the first two weeks of October before moving to Cuba for the substantive part of their talks - the latest attempt after several failed peace negotiations since the 1980s.

Colombia said that the government delegation would leave from Bogota on Tuesday afternoon, which would put them in Oslo on Wednesday morning.

It was not immediately clear whether the FARC delegation had left for Norway. The parties had been expected to arrive in Oslo last weekend for preliminary meetings, but their departures were delayed by heavy rains in Colombia and other problems.

FARC leaders have said there were delays in lifting arrest warrants for some delegates. News reports in Colombia indicated a conflict about the composition of the FARC delegation, particularly the inclusion of Dutch national Tanja Nijmeijer.

A spokesman for Interpol said Colombia had asked for the lifting of so-called "red notices," much like arrest warrants, on several FARC members.

Colombia controls only its own notices, and there is a "red notice" filed by the United States for Nijmeijer, alias Alexandra, which has not been lifted, the spokesman said.

In a statement published on Monday, the FARC insisted it had the right to select delegation members, and said Nijmeijer would take part. But it was not clear if she would travel to Oslo or take part only in the Cuban leg of the talks.

While security has improved since a U.S.-backed offensive against FARC rebels and drug barons began a decade ago, the security forces have been unable to land a decisive blow. That has left Santos vulnerable ahead of elections in 2014.

Negotiations in Oslo are expected to focus on laying the groundwork for the later discussions in Cuba, which would focus mainly on land, drugs and political participation issues.

Norway and Cuba have agreed to act as guarantors at the talks while representatives from Venezuela and Chile will be present for the talks.</s>President Juan Manuel Santos, facing criticism on security issues, has launched the latest attempt to negotiate a deal with the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas.

"We're leaving now with hope, with moderate optimism. We don't believe in false expectations," said Humberto de la Calle, head of the government's negotiating team, before boarding a plane at a military airport in Bogota with the rest of the team.

"We do believe that there are structural elements that give hope and the idea that we will bring good news to Colombia."

The two sides agreed in August to begin negotiations in Oslo in the first two weeks of October before moving to Cuba for the substantive part of their talks - the latest attempt after several failed peace negotiations since the 1980s.

It was not immediately clear whether the FARC delegation had left for Norway. The parties had been expected to arrive in Oslo last weekend for preliminary meetings, but their departures were delayed by heavy rains in Colombia and other problems.

De la Calle, a former vice president, said the negotiating teams would meet behind closed doors on Wednesday to work out logistics for the official installation and a press conference on Thursday.

The two parties would move to Havana "very soon" after meeting in Oslo, he said without elaborating.

He asked the press for patience and discretion and said information would be provided only through official statements.

FARC leaders have said there were delays in lifting arrest warrants for some delegates. News reports in Colombia indicated a conflict about the composition of the FARC delegation, particularly the inclusion of Dutch national Tanja Nijmeijer.

A spokesman for Interpol said Colombia had asked for the lifting of so-called "red notices," much like arrest warrants, on several FARC members.

Colombia controls only its own notices, and there is a "red notice" filed by the United States for Nijmeijer, alias Alexandra, which has not been lifted, the spokesman said.

In a statement published on Monday, the FARC insisted it had the right to select delegation members, and said Nijmeijer would take part. It is believed she would take part in the Cuban leg of the talks.

While security has improved since a U.S.-backed offensive against FARC rebels and drug barons began a decade ago, the security forces have been unable to land a decisive blow. That has left Santos vulnerable ahead of elections in 2014.

Negotiations in Oslo are expected to focus on laying the groundwork for the later discussions in Cuba, which would focus mainly on land, drugs and political participation issues.

Norway and Cuba have agreed to act as guarantors at the talks while representatives from Venezuela and Chile will also be present.
According to the United Nations, as many as 96 families have been displaced by criminal gangs who are filling the vacuum left by FARC rebels in Colombia after the latter signed a peace deal with the government last year.