(VOVworld) – The UN ceasefire supervision mission needs to be deployed as soon as before the referendum on a peace deal to end the long-running civil war in Colombia so as to ensure Colombians’ right to vote. Sergio Jaramillo, Colombia’s high commissioner for peace, told reporters on Friday that first supervisors of the 450-member team have already arrived the capital city of Bogota.

Rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia southern bloc, FARC, listen to a lecture on the peace process in the southern jungles of Putumayo, Colombia. (Photo: AFP)

Under the ceasefire signed in June in Cuba, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) committed to abandoning violence and engaging in democracy, freethinking, and negotiation. They set 180 days since the signing of the last peace deal as the time for disarmament.  They agreed that the ceasefire will be monitored by a three-party body manned by the government, FARC and the UN.

The ceasefire ended 4-years of peace negotiations in Havana and was the last significant step towards a peace deal by the Colombian government and FARC. The peace deal needs to be approved by the majority of Colombian through voting, to be held in coming months.