At least 23 killed in armed clashes in Colombia’s Arauca, government says
BOGOTA, Jan 3 (Reuters) – Twenty-three people have been reported killed so far in Colombia’s Arauca province amid fighting between illegal armed groups, Defense Minister Diego Molano told a news conference late on Monday.
Fighting broke out over the weekend in Arauca – which sits on the border with Venezuela – as members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) fought with dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who reject a 2016 peace deal.
The violence harks back to the mid 2000s, when the FARC and ELN fought each other in Arauca and the neighboring Venezuelan state of Apure.
Some 5,000 people fled Apure at the end of March last year amid clashes between Colombian armed groups and the Venezuelan military.
“We are very concerned about the fighting between the ELN and dissidents of the FARC’s 10th front in Arauca and Apure,” Pappier said.
Colombia’s President Ivan Duque convened a meeting of military and police leaders to assess the situation in Arauca and to take measures to address it.
“I have ordered that two battalions be deployed within the next 72 hours to help with the task of territorial control,” Duque said in a video broadcast, while accusing Venezuela of sheltering FARC dissidents and the ELN.
Venezuelan Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino ridiculed the accusations on Twitter. Venezuelan military forces stationed in border municipalities have raised their level of alert in response to the fighting in Colombia, he added.