UN denounces dramatic jump in Colombia violence

BOGOTA, Aug 16: Over 50 massacres took place in Colombia in the first half of this year, an increase of 11 percent, despite truces between the government and armed groups, the United Nations said Tuesday.

Juliette De Rivero, the in-country representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, lamented the rising violence.

"In the confirmed massacres, we continue to observe that a large number of them are perpetrated by non-state armed groups and criminal organizations," she said in Bogota as she presented a report on the humanitarian situation in the country.

The 52 massacres -- defined by the United Nations as the simultaneous killing of at least three people -- left 168 people dead through June, including 19 minors.

Late last year, President Gustavo Petro announced a bilateral ceasefire with five of the country's main armed groups.

It was part of the leftist president's ambitious plan for a "total peace" in the conflict-rattled country, but it didn't hold, with the National Liberation Army resuming hostilities. The opposition charges that this policy has allowed illegal groups to gain strength and attack the country's security forces.

(RSS/AFP)