Colombia's FARC Rebels Suspend Arms Purchases

The head of Colombia's FARC rebels said Tuesday he has ordered the guerrilla army to stop buying weapons, as a goodwill gesture to accelerate peace talks with the government.

"On September 30 I gave the order to all FARC command structures to suspend arms and munitions purchases," commander Timoleon "Timochenko" Jimenez wrote on Twitter.

He addressed the message to @JuanManSantos -- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos -- and concluded it "#DesescalamientoYa" (de-escalation now).

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a Marxist rebel group launched in 1964, has been holding peace talks with the government for nearly three years in the Cuban capital Havana.

The two sides pledged in September to sign a final accord by March 23, 2016.

Colombia's half-century-old conflict has killed some 220,000 people and drawn in several leftist rebel groups, right-wing paramilitaries and drug traffickers over the years.