BOGOTA - Colombia's FARC rebel group, which laid down its weapons following a historic peace deal with the government last year, has voted to change its name but keep its acronym. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia will now be known as the Alternative Communal Revolutionary Forces, leader Rodrigo Londono wrote on Twitter on Thursday, thereby keeping the same initials in Spanish. That deal will continue in the following period, but from 2026 the party will have to fight elections on equal terms with other parties. FARC signed a ceasefire deal with the government in June 2016, after more than 50 years of fighting in which around 220,000 people lost their lives. Colombia declared the conflict officially over earlier this month, after the FARC handed over the last of their weapons to the United Nations in line with the peace deal.

Source: The China Post September 01, 2017 06:45 UTC