Colombia's rebel group announces unilateral 30-day ceasefire

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group announced a 30-day ceasefire on Sunday in Havana. "We will order all our guerrilla and militia units to observe a ceasefire for 30 days, beginning from Dec. 15," according to a FARC statement read out by commander Pablo Catatumbo. "We still hope that the national government will correspond to our decision by ordering a ceasefire as well," added Catatumbo. The government of Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos has always rejected the ceasefire with the FARC, arguing that in the past, the guerrilla group had used truces to reorganize. While announcing the ceasefire, the FARC also admitted being responsible for an attack against a police station in Inza, in the southwest department of Cauca on Saturday. According to military sources, the rebels fired home-made rockets to a house that was used as an army and police station in Inza. Nine people, including three civilians, were killed, while at least 20 people were injured and several buildings destroyed. "This action is part of the confrontation taking place in our country and, precisely, the goal of the talks is to end this confrontation," said FARC spokesman Andres Paris, before the beginning of the peace talks on Sunday in Havana. The Colombian government and the FARC began peace talks in November 2012 in the Cuban capital seeking an agreement that will end the half-century-old armed conflicts. Both sides have achieved agreements on rural land issue and FARC's political participation. They are currently discussing the issue on illegal drugs. The FARC, founded in the early 1960s by poor landless farmers, is fighting for better conditions in rural Colombia.