U.S. to Invest in Demining to Help Colombia's Peace Process

The United States will provide $5 million for demining activities over the next two years in Colombia, which is trying to thrash out a historic peace deal with the FARC guerrillas, officials said Monday.

Antony Blinken, a U.S. deputy secretary of state, made the announcement on a visit that included talks with Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin.

Blinken said the U.S. contribution was an additional $5 million for civilian and military mine-clearing operations, added to $21 million since 2006.

The Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) have been in talks in Havana since November 2012 in a bid to end more than five decades of conflict that have killed more than 200,000 people.

This year, negotiators reached an agreement on mine-clearing that is supposed to start being implemented in coming weeks.

The process is supposed to be carried out by army troops, rebels and a Norwegian NGO.

Colombia has had 2,000 killed and 9,000 injured by mines; it has the second largest number of mine attack victims after Afghanistan.

"The United States is proud to partner with Colombia as you build a more prosperous, more secure and more just nation," Blinken said.

"We look forward to deepening and expanding our support for Colombia's tireless efforts to achieve peace and reconciliation. One of the fruits already of that effort is an agreement on demining," he added.