Bogota – AFP
A United Nations convoy was attacked by an armed group on Thursday, during which several vehicles were also set ablaze in southeastern Colombia, according to UN sources.
The United Nations mission responsible for implementing the 2016 peace agreement with the former Marxist rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), expressed its “strong” condemnation of the attack on one of its local divisions in the rural Puerto Nuevo region of Gaviare (south of east).
The United Nations elements were traveling with members of the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Norwegian Refugee Council when “armed men approached them and forced them out of their car.” The statement indicated that the attackers set fire to two of the three cars. The convoy members returned safely to their offices.
Colombian presidential adviser Emilio Archila, who was speaking to a local radio station, said the criminals presented themselves as FARC defectors led by Gentile Duarte, one of the country’s most wanted men.