Colombia's Santos welcomes pressure on peace talks

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said he welcomes international pressure to accelerate peace talks with the FARC guerrillas, which has mounted in recent weeks as fighting has intensified.

The international community has voiced alarm over Santos's decision in April to resume air strikes on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a move that prompted the rebels to scrap a unilateral ceasefire they had declared in December.

But in his first interview with an international news agency since the end of the ceasefire on May 22, Santos told AFP that recent events would only accelerate the peace process -- including, he said, diplomatic pressure from Europe, which he will visit next week.

"I think people on the outside may grasp the reality of the country we're living in better than us," he said before heading to Brussels for a summit of the European Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States.

The EU, the UN and Norway, which is facilitating the peace talks, have all called recently for a bilateral ceasefire in Colombia -- something Santos has adamantly refused, arguing it would only delay a final peace deal.

Asked if he saw that as a warning sign, Santos -- who is pushing for Europe to set up a fund to assist post-conflict Colombia -- replied with a smile: "On the contrary."

He said he believed the "very positive" international pressure was directed mainly at the FARC.

"Colombians' patience is not infinite so any pressure to accelerate the peace process is welcome," he said at the presidential palace in Bogota.

- 'Reconciling enemies' -

Santos, the architect of the peace talks, was elected last year for a new four-year term in a vote seen as a referendum on the negotiations.

He said he was against "playing around with the rules of the game," which he insists mean no bilateral ceasefire until a final deal is reached.

"Every peace process is complicated. It's not an easy road," he said.

The center-right leader, who has come under fire from opposition hardliners for talking with the rebels, said the answer is to speed up the negotiations.

The talks in Havana, which have reached partial deals on several issues since they opened in November 2012, made a new breakthrough Thursday with the announcement the government and rebels have agreed to create a truth commission to probe crimes committed during the five-decade conflict, which has killed more than 200,000 people and uprooted six million.

"The truth is going to help heal wounds and reconcile us," Santos said, calling the announcement a "very important step."

The government is under pressure from victims and their families to bring those who have committed atrocities to justice. But the prospect of jail terms for either rebels or soldiers risks derailing the peace talks.

Santos said the truth commission, which will not mete out punishment, will both "guarantee victims' rights" and ensure "the maximum amount of justice that peace permits."

Extending an olive branch to the rebels, Santos said he was willing to meet the supreme commander of the FARC, the man known as Timoleon "Timochenko" Jimenez.

"Sooner or later, we'll have to meet because that's exactly what this is about, reconciliation between enemies," he said.

"They've been the enemies of the Colombian state for more than 50 years."