“We can’t return to years of hate and fear,” Colombia women activists say

“We can’t return to years of hate and fear,” Colombia women activists say

Source: Thomson Reuters Foundation - Thu, 12 Jun 2014 17:16 GMT
Author: Alex Whiting

“We can’t return to years of hate and fear,” Colombia women activists say

(Updates with quotes)

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Colombian women peace activists are worried that Sunday’s presidential polls may bring in a new president who has threatened to end the peace talks with rebel groups currently taking place in Havana.

That could plunge the country back into violence, the activists said, speaking at a meeting organised by the British Foreign Office and the NGO Conciliation Resources on the sidelines of the global summit on sexual violence in conflict in London.

They want to see President Juan Manuel Santos re-elected and continue negotiating an end to five decades of war with guerrilla leaders of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

“We can’t live more years with such an incredible environment of sorrow, of pain, of fear. Colombian society is full of fear, and we don’t want to go back to that,” said Rosa Emilia Salamanca, who is a founder of the Colombian National Women’s Network, coordinator of the Women Peace and Security Collective, and has represented the movement at local, national and international levels.

More:
http://www.trust.org/item/20140612171635-4akcq/