Colombia, FARC Signal Progress in Peace Talks

The Colombian government and the leftist guerrilla group FARC said Thursday they were extending their latest round of peace negotiations, signaling progress on a key issue in the year-old talks.

The sides agreed to talk until Monday "with the objective of advancing the discussion and building an agreement on the second point of the agenda," FARC representative Marcos Calarca said.

Negotiators have been trying to reach agreement on how former rebels should be integrated into the country's political life once their nearly 50-year-old insurgency ends.

The issue is one of five that form the agenda for the talks in Havana, which began in November 2012.

They have agreed on only one other agenda point so far: how to approach land reform and rural development issues that lie at the root of Latin America's longest running insurgency.

The head of the government delegation, former vice president Humberto de la Calle, confirmed that negotiators had agreed to extend the current session, which had been due to end on Saturday.

He said the talks should continue "without pause" until Monday, with the aim of reaching "a concrete agreement on point two, on citizen participation."

On Saturday, President Juan Manuel Santos had asked the FARC to "step on the accelerator" in the talks "to continue making progress in the agreements."

The head of the rebel delegation, Ivan Marquez, responded by urging the government to stop "placing unnecessary obstacles to every proposal we make for achieving social transformation."

Santos, who will seek re-election in 2014, has staked his presidency on ending the war but has seen his popularity erode in recent weeks, in part because of the lack of progress in the peace talks.

Santos' predecessor, Alvaro Uribe, is leading an opposition charge against the peace process from the right, adding pressure on the president to show results.

"We are optimistic that we are on a good path," said Calarca. "We are making every effort to achieve a peace agreement."

Four previous attempts at a negotiated settlement of the conflict have failed.

If an agreement is reached on political reintegration, negotiators still need to resolve three other thorny issues: drug trafficking, reparations for victims of the conflict and disarming the rebels.

The FARC, which stands for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, is estimated to have about 8,000 fighters under arms.