Colombian voters  reject peace accord

BOGOTA. — Colombia’s government vowed to sustain its efforts to end the country’s half-century civil war after voters handed it a shock defeat by rejecting a peace accord reached with the communist FARC rebels.Resentful of the bloodshed by the leftist guerrillas and the immunity the accord offers many of them from prosecution, voters on Sunday rejected the historic deal by a razor-thin margin, defying the government and flying in the face of opinion polls.

The result threw Colombia’s future into uncertainty. The sides spent four years negotiating the deal and agreed it must be ratified in a referendum, but there was no Plan B in the event of a “No” vote.

President Juan Manuel Santos admitted defeat, but pledged: “I will not give in, and I will continue to seek peace to the last day of my term.”

FARC chief Rodrigo Londono, alias Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez, vowed his side was also committed to continuing peace efforts. He said its ceasefire remained in force.

“The FARC deeply deplores that the destructive power of those who sow hatred and resentment has influenced the Colombian people’s opinion,” he said in Havana, Cuba, where the accord was negotiated.

“The people of Colombia who dream of peace can count on us. Peace will triumph.”

Also “very disappointed” was Borge Brende, foreign affairs minister of Norway, one of the countries actively supporting the peace process.

He told radio NRK that the accord supporters should “work in the next days to see if there are solutions to save peace in Colombia” by taking into account opposition to the deal.

But the late Sunday vote result was a dramatic defeat for Santos and the accord he signed with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Commentators compared the result to that of June’s surprise “Brexit” vote for Britain to leave the European Union.

Colombians voted 50.21 percent to 49.78 percent against the accord, according to results published online with more than 99.9 percent of votes counted. — AFP.

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