The Colombian government on Friday destroyed 18,000 weapons
seized from disarming former paramilitary groups and planned to
turn the weapons into artworks promoting peace.
Jose Miguel Insulza, general secretary of the Organization of
American States, presided over a ceremony for smelting these
weapons, which was carried out at the National Iron and Steel
Company in central Boyaca province.
"We hope this act is a firm advance towards peace," said
Insulza, whose organization is observing the peace process between
the Colombian government and the country's right-wing paramilitary
United Self-Defense Forces (AUC).
Colombia's high peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo also
attended the ceremony.
The AUC had fiercely fought the anti-government leftist
guerrillas before joining a government-initiated peace process in
2003.
A total of 31,000 members of the group had disarmed themselves
by April 2006 in exchange for amnesty granted by the government or
reduced jail terms.
(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2007)
