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UN begins removing rebel weapons from camps in Colombia

UN begins removing rebel weapons from camps in Colombia | iNFOnews.ca
FILE - In this Feb. 28, 2017 file photo, weapons belonging to rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, are stored at a rebel camp in La Carmelita near Puerto Asis in Colombia's southwestern state of Putumayo. The United Nations began removing containers on Monday, July 31, 2017, holding weapons from demobilization zones where the arms were handed over by former fighters for Colombia’s largest rebel group who are beginning life as civilians under a peace agreement. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara, File)

BOGOTA – The United Nations on Monday began removing containers holding more than 7,000 weapons from demobilization zones where the arms were handed over by former fighters for Colombia’s largest rebel group who are beginning life as civilians under a peace agreement.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said the removal marks the end of a cease-fire started in June 2016.

Photos provided by the U.N. show stacks of worn black rifles wrapped in plastic inside containers.

About 7,000 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia finished turning over their weapons in late June. The guns will eventually be melted down to construct three peace monuments.

Colombia’s armed conflict lasted more than five decades and left at least 250,000 people dead and another 60,000 disappeared.

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Abbey Westbury

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