ELN Did Not Confirm Alleged Attack on Army Base in Colombia

RSS Feed

ELN Did Not Confirm Alleged Attack on Army Base in Colombia

February 11th, 2016

Awake Goy

Christof Lehmann (nsnbc) : Colombian military and government sources accuse Colombia’s second-largest leftist guerrilla, the ELN, of having carried out a mortar attack against a military complex in Arauca, northeast Colombia this week. The ELN has not officially confirmed or denied responsibility for the incident.

A local military commander from the 18th Brigade accused Colombia’s National Liberation Army (Ejèrcito de Liberación Nacional – ELN) of having launched between six and eight home-made mortars into the barracks of the brigade in Arauca city. Arauca, a city of 80,000 residents, is located near the Colombian – Venezuelan border and one of the main centers of the ELN.

The ELN, however, has thus far not claimed responsibility for the attack. Today nsnbc has contacted the ELN for a statement that could either confirm or deny the allegations.

The ELN has launched tentative but steady negotiations about a ceasefire and a peace agreement with the Colombian government. February 1, 2016 the ELN stated that they received an invitation to participate in the peace dialog in the Cuban capital Havana on Friday, January 29. The largest leftist guerrilla, the FARC-EP and the Colombian government have held peace talks in Havana since 2012. A bilateral ceasefire was implemented on January 1, 2016. Both the government and the FARC-EP are optimistic, although tentatively optimistic, that a final peace accord will be signed later this year.

The ELN, for its part, stressed that its delegation for dialog has been ready for peace talks since November 2015. February 1, 2016 the ELN stated that the sensitive preliminary phase of discussions should be terminated and that discussions now should be held more openly. The ELN noted that the negotiators, over the last two years, always had set a new date for the next meeting and stressed that this did not happen at the last meeting because two issues remained unresolved. No details about these issues were released.

The ELN blamed the government for this failure and stressed that the ELN since then is expecting these two issues would be resolved by the government’s delegates. The ELN also reported that it used “the channels of communication” between the two parties to reiterate its willingness to go ahead with the next phase of the dialog.

Considering all possibilities, including the possibilities that the ELN has carried out the attack in Arauca because it felt frustrated about a lacking progress, the possibility that right-wing neo-paramilitaries or elements within Colombia’s armed forces carried out the attack, or even possible foreign involvement, nsnbc international hopes that the ELN will respond to our inquiry and issue a formal statement. The Colombian military was not hesitant to use the attack to denounce the ELN. Army Commander General Alberto Mejia told the press that:

“This is an attack that shows the mentality of this terrorist group. While the government extends them a hand for talks, the response is tatucos or home-made mortars”.

Tatucos are launched from metal cylinders and notoriously inaccurate. Similar home-made devices are frequently used by a cohort of the Islamist terrorist groups that are fighting the Syrian government. No casualties were reported. The damage caused by the attack was that the base was left without electricity. The 18th Brigade has reportedly launched a “counter-offensive” against the ELN.

CH/L – nsnbc 11.02.2016

Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2016/02/11/eln-did-not-confirm-alleged-attack-on-army-base-in-colombia/