Colombia peace process – Sinn Féin, DUP, SDLP and ANC team travel to Cuba

SINN FÉIN West Belfast MP Paul Maskey will travel to Cuba this Thursday as part of a Justice for Colombia delegation from Ireland and South Africa to meet with negotiators of the Colombian peace process.

The delegation includes Ebrahim Ebrahim (ANC), Mohammed Bhabha from the African National Congress, Jeffrey Donaldson MP of the Democratic Unionist Party, Mark Durkan MP of the SDLP. and Reverend Harold Good. 

Reverend Good (pictured) was one of the two independent witnesses overseeing the decommissioning of IRA weapons during the Irish Peace Process.

The purpose of the delegation is to hold discussions with Colombian negotiators and share experiences on potentially contentious and important issues around truth, victims, and demilitarisation.

On 23 September, the Colombian Government agreed with the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) left-wing guerrillas to end 50 years of conflict.

Three years of negotiations led to a plan for “comprehensive transitional justice” in Colombia. 

Negotiators set a deadline of six months to complete the final peace accord. The intention is that FARC will decommission its weapons in the following two months with a view to ending the conflict by mid-2016.

Paul Maskey said ahead of the trip:

“Whilst acknowledging that no two situations are the same and we cannot be prescriptive, I will bring our experience of the Irish Peace Process to the table.

“Sinn Féin has worked over a number of years, in conjunction with Justice for Colombia and others to assist the conflict resolution process.

“We are committed to giving our support to help establish peace, justice and democracy in Colombia.”