Colombian government, rebels arrive in Oslo for peace talks

Colombian government representatives and leftist FARC rebels arrived in Oslo on Wednesday ahead of peace talks aimed at ending the longest-running conflict in Latin America. The two sides will on Thursday kick off their first peace negotiations in a decade at an undisclosed location near Oslo, before moving to Havana for a second round of more in-depth talks next week. Together with Cuba, Norway is playing the role of facilitator in the peace process that seeks to end a conflict that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives in the past 50 years. Even before getting underway, the Oslo round of talks has been shrouded in secrecy, with few details seeping out from either the delegations or host Norway about the fourth official attempt to resolve Colombia's insurgency. "The two parties are here," a source in Oslo who asked to remain anonymous told AFP, providing no other details. The Norwegian foreign ministry confirmed only that the Colombian government representatives and FARC rebels would hold a press conference on Thursday at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT) in a hotel in Hurdal, a small town north of Oslo. After the delegations' arrival in the Scandinavian country, the two sides have said they were to meet on Wednesday in a secret location to discuss technical and logistical issues related to the talks.The Colombian government has voiced cautious optimism about a deal. "We do not want to create false expectations, but we do believe there are structural elements that allow us to harbor hope that we will see good news for Colombia," chief government negotiator Humberto de la Calle told AFP before leaving Bogota. The two parties are expected to discuss topics including rural development, the rebels' future role in political life, the definitive end of hostilities, and drug trafficking, which is a source of funding for the rebels. A ceasefire has been rejected by Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos before a final agreement, but the issue is expected to be raised by FARC. The rebels created last-minute controversy by revealing the name of a Dutch national, Tanja Nijmeijer, among the delegates to attend the peace talks. Including the rebels' only known European recruit in the delegation is a controversial move, since it is seen by the government side as an attempt by FARC to curry favour in Europe and bolster its international image. FARC is ranked as a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union. Nijmeijer is only expected to take part in the Havana round of talks. The 34-year-old woman, born to a middle class family in the Netherlands, first travelled to Colombia to study philology and to teach English. In 2002 she joined FARC and has risen to the top ranks, her political views shaped by the abuses and inequality she had witnessed in the country. Her presence at the peace talks would be an attempt by FARC to assuage international fears that she has been kept in the Colombian jungle by force. "It's also a way to send a message to young people, to show a friendlier face," said Ariel Avila, a researcher at a peace foundation called New Rainbow which specialises in the Colombian conflict. Former Colombian president Alvaro Uribe said Wednesday he was "concerned" about the negotiations, saying he didn't understand why a country would "negotiate with terrorists". Issues such as health care, education and land reform and drug trafficking should not be negotiated with terrorists, he said in an interview with Spanish daily ABC. "The government is trying to strike a deal with FARC at the price of security, and engages in dialogue while security is deteriorating, without requiring FARC to end its criminal activities." Founded in 1964 and Latin America's largest rebel group with 9,200 armed fighters, the FARC may be ready for a truce after a long string of setbacks. In recent years, it has suffered the capture and killing of some of its top leaders, and the depletion of its ranks to half what they were at their peak in the 1990s.