The Colombian government and dissidents of the FARC guerrilla group that signed a 2016 peace pact, start talks with a view to demobilizing some 3,500 fighters and putting an end, once and for all, to their armed insurgency. The parties have also agreed to observe a bilateral ceasefire until January 15, according to the defense ministry. Negotiations between the government of President Gustavo Petro and leaders of the so-called Central General Staff (EMC) kick off in Tibu in the country's northeast, an area surrounded by drug crops and hard-hit by the ongoing violence. IMAGES