Colombia expects talks with FARC dissidents within weeks-peace official

Danilo Rueda, Colombia's High Commissioner for Peace attends an interview with Reuters in Bogota, Colombia February 20, 2023. REUTERS/Luisa Gonzalez

BOGOTA (Reuters) - Colombia's government expects to begin talks within weeks with two dissident groups founded by former FARC rebels who reject that group's 2016 peace deal, the country's top peace official said.

President Gustavo Petro has vowed to end Colombia's 60-year conflict - which has killed at least 450,000 people - by inking peace or surrender deals with remaining rebels and crime gangs and by fully implementing the accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).