In an address on state TV, Mr Santos said he was fulfilling his "duty to seek peace". Media reports say a deal on further talks was reached in Cuba.

 

The Farc has been fighting the Colombian government since 1964. 

 

The president said he was also open to a dialogue with Colombia's second-largest rebel group, the ELN.

 

 

Mr Santos gave no details about the exploratory talks with the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc).

 

According to the regional media network Telesur negotiators from the two sides signed a preliminary agreement in the Cuban capital, Havana, on Monday.

 

Telesur said the first round of peace talks would be held in the Norwegian capital, Oslo, on 5 October. Negotiators would then continue holding talks in Havana, it added. 

 

Referring to previous failed talks with the Farc during the government of then-president Andres Pastrana, Mr Santos said his government had "learned from the mistakes committed in the past".

 

Mr Santos said military operations would continue and that "each centimetre of the country would have a military presence".

 

As part of the peace talks launched in 1998, Mr Pastrana had granted the Farc a safe haven¹ the size of Switzerland in the south-east to help move peace talks along. 

 

The zone was off-limits to the army and the rebels used it to train and regroup.

 

Mr Pastrana ordered the rebels out of their safe haven after the peace talks failed in February 2002, but part of the area remains² a rebel stronghold to this day.

点击收听单词发音