24.04.201815:39:00UTC+00ECUADOR: Moreno Claims That ELN Has Not Agreed To Abandon Violence

The president of Ecuador, Lenin Moreno, claimed that the National Liberation Army (ELN) Colombian guerrilla group has not accepted to abandon violent activities. He made the comment after the departure of the delegates of the ELN, who was in Ecuador to take part in the fifth round of the peace talks with Colombia's government.

Representatives of the ELN and the Colombian government left Quito after Moreno has withdrawn his country's support as a peace sponsor. Both ELN and Colombia are trying to find a new headquarter for the peace process.

"I think enough time has passed for the ELN to give a clear signal of their desire for peace, stopping violent activities such as explosions and kidnappings. They have not done so," Moreno claimed in his radio and television program.

"If the delegates decided to leave Ecuador, I understand they did not want to commit to peace," said Moreno, who last week withdrew his country's support for the peace talks.

His decision came after the murder of a three-person press team, the killing of four soldiers and the abduction of two citizens in Ecuador. These actions, however, were all attributed to a dissidence of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a former guerrilla group now converted into a political party after a peace agreement with the government in 2016.