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President Gustavo Petro has pledged to end the country's nearly
six-decade conflict between the government, rebels and crime
gangs founded by former paramilitaries, which has killed at
least 450,000 people.
His government is holding peace talks with the ELN and has
declared a bilateral ceasefire with dissidents, who reject a
2016 peace deal signed by the FARC.
The fighting over territorial control in Puerto Rondon
municipality in Arauca province, near the border with Venezuela,
began on Tuesday, the national army said.
Soldiers were in the area to restore order and allow residents
to return to normal activities, it added in a statement.
Confrontations between armed groups competing for territory are
not uncommon in Arauca, where past incidents left hundreds dead
or displaced, or in neighboring Venezuela, where the groups also
operate.
Some 352 people were murdered in Arauca in 2022, according to
the human rights ombudsman's office, many as a consequence of
combat between the ELN and dissidents.
(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb;
Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
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