THE Colombian government and a rebel group “bet on life and freedom” as they signed a three-month ceasefire on Monday, formally beginning peace talks.

President Gustavo Petro’s government reached agreement with the rebel group known as Farc-EMC at a signing ceremony that took place in the township of Tibu, near Colombia’s border with Venezuela.

Both sides also agreed to cease attacks on civilians and set up a group that will monitor the ceasefire and could include United Nations personnel.

Camilo Gonzalez, the government’s lead negotiator said: “Peace today seems to have been eclipsed when sirens, bombs, shouts of pain and desperation can be heard in places like the Middle East, Europe or sub-Saharan Africa.

“These peace talks [in Colombia] are a bet on life and freedom.”

Farc-EMC are currently Colombia’s third-largest armed group, with around 3,500 members. 

The group is led by left-wing guerilla fighters who refused to join a 2016 peace deal between Colombia’s government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, in which more than 12,000 rebels laid down their guns.

The talks with the Farc-EMC are part of President Petro’s total peace strategy, which includes negotiating with various armed groups.

Colombia’s government in June signed a six-month ceasefire with the National Liberation Army, the country’s largest remaining guerilla group. 

But talks with the Gulf Clan, the nation’s second-largest armed group, broke down earlier this year as the military cracked down on illegal mining in a region controlled by the group.

Farc-EMC said in September that they would not interfere in municipal and provincial elections that will be held on October 29. 

The last ceasefire between the government and Farc-EMC broke down in May after five months, when rebels killed three teenagers from an Indigenous community who had been forcibly recruited and were trying to escape from one of the group’s camps.