BOGOTA: Eighteen Colombian troops have been kidnapped while conducting an operation against the ELN guerrilla group, Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said Sunday.
The soldiers were surrounded by “nearly 200 people and forcibly transferred, against their will, to an indigenous reservation” in Choco Department in the country’s northwest, near the border with Panama, Sanchez said in a post on X.
Founded in 1964 and inspired by the Cuban revolution, the ELN, or National Liberation Army, is the oldest surviving guerrilla group in the Americas.
The group controls key drug-producing regions of Colombia, which is grappling with its worst security crisis in a decade, fueled by criminal groups profiting from trafficking, extortion and illegal mining.
The defense minister condemned the kidnapping of the troops, saying that restricting military operation puts local communities at “serious risk.”
“These operations aim to protect the civilian population — especially indigenous communities — from threats such as the recruitment of minors, forced displacement, and other acts associated with violence,” Sanchez said.
“Peace is not built by kidnapping soldiers or weakening the state,” he added.
Sanchez said he had asked the the interior ministry, the Choco government and human rights organizations to help secure the safe return of the soldiers.
A criminal complaint has also been filed with the attorney general’s office.
Choco Governor Nubia Cordoba said that after “the detention of 18 soldiers who were carrying out their legal duties,” she called an “extraordinary security council” to seek their release.
In September, 72 soldiers were detained by hundreds of residents in the Micay Canyon, an enclave for cocaine production dominated by dissident rebels from the now-defunct FARC group.
A month earlier, 33 uniformed personnel were freed after being held for three days in the department of Guaviare.
Colombia says 18 soldiers kidnapped during anti-guerrilla raid
https://arab.news/p7y29
Colombia says 18 soldiers kidnapped during anti-guerrilla raid
- Eighteen Colombian troops have been kidnapped while conducting an operation against the ELN guerrilla group, Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said Sunday
India, Arab League target $500bn in trade by 2030
- It was the first such gathering of India–Arab FMs since the forum’s inauguration in 2016
- India and Arab states agree to link their startup ecosystems, cooperate in the space sector
NEW DELHI: India and the Arab League have committed to doubling bilateral trade to $500 billion by 2030, as their top diplomats met in New Delhi for the India–Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting.
The foreign ministers’ forum is the highest mechanism guiding India’s partnership with the Arab world. It was established in March 2002, with an agreement to institutionalize dialogue between India and the League of Arab States, a regional bloc of 22 Arab countries from the Middle East and North Africa.
The New Delhi meeting on Saturday was the first gathering in a decade, following the inaugural forum in Bahrain in 2016.
India’s Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar said in his opening remarks that the forum was taking place amid a transformation in the global order.
“Nowhere is this more apparent than in West Asia or the Middle East, where the landscape itself has undergone a dramatic change in the last year,” he said. “This obviously impacts all of us, and India as a proximate region. To a considerable degree, its implications are relevant for India’s relationship with Arab nations as well.”
Jaishankar and his UAE counterpart co-chaired the talks, which aimed at producing a cooperation agenda for 2026-28.
“It currently covers energy, environment, agriculture, tourism, human resource development, culture and education, amongst others,” Jaishankar said.
“India looks forward to more contemporary dimensions of cooperation being included, such as digital, space, start-ups, innovation, etc.”
According to the “executive program” released by India’s Ministry of External Affairs, the roadmap agreed by India and the League outlined their planned collaboration, which included the target “to double trade between India and LAS to US$500 billion by 2030, from the current trade of US$240 billion.”
Under the roadmap, they also agreed to link their startup ecosystems by facilitating market access, joint projects, and investment opportunities — especially health tech, fintech, agritech, and green technologies — and strengthen cooperation in space with the establishment of an India–Arab Space Cooperation Working Group, of which the first meeting is scheduled for next year.
Over the past few years, there has been a growing momentum in Indo-Arab relations focused on economic, business, trade and investment ties between the regions that have some of the world’s youngest demographics, resulting in a “commonality of circumstances, visions and goals,” according to Muddassir Quamar, associate professor at the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.
“The focus of the summit meeting was on capitalizing on the economic opportunities … including in the field of energy security, sustainability, renewables, food and water security, environmental security, trade, investments, entrepreneurship, start-ups, technological innovations, educational cooperation, cultural cooperation, youth engagement, etc.,” Quamar told Arab News.
“A number of critical decisions have been taken for furthering future cooperation in this regard. In terms of opportunities, there is immense potential.”
