Colombia, ELN rebels agree to peace talks: President

Graubunden: The Colombian government and the country`s last active rebel group, the ELN, have reached a new agreement to launch formal peace talks, President Juan Manuel Santos said on Wednesday.

"I can tell you we have come to an agreement" on launching talks, having settled a dispute about the release of a hostage by the ELN, Santos said in an address in Davos, Switzerland during the World Economic Forum.

Colombia has suffered more than half a century of civil war that has killed 260,000 people, according to the authorities.

Santos has already signed a historic peace accord with the country`s biggest rebel group, the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

That deal is seen as effectively ending Latin America`s last major armed conflict.

It will demobilize and disarm the 5,700-strong FARC and transform them into a political party.

Santos says that adding a peace deal with the smaller leftist National Liberation Army (ELN) would allow him to achieve "complete peace" in Colombia.

The ELN is estimated to have about 1,500 members.

Santos`s government and ELN negotiators were on the verge of starting talks last in October in the Ecuadoran capital, Quito.

But that effort stalled due to a disagreement over the release of a lawmaker held by the ELN.