Colombian rebels finally frees kidnapped Dutch reporters

Colombia's Marxist ELN fighters have released 
two Dutch journalists they had captured earlier this week , according to officials.

The ombudsman office, which handles human-rights-
related issues, wrote on Twitter on Saturday that the 
ELN, or the National Liberation Front, freed reporter Derk Johannes Bolt, 62, and his cameraman Eugenio Ernest 
Marie Follender, 58, in a rural area of Norte de Santander 
state, posting an accompanying photo purporting to 
show the pair.

(Translation: In the rural area of Catatumbo, 
two Dutch journalists were handed over to ombudsman 
by the ELN.) The military said on Monday that the two journalists were captured by the ELN in northeastern Colombia near the border with Venezuela.

The ELN later confirmed it was holding the pair on 
Twitter, saying they remained in "perfect condition".

In an interview with a local radio station following the 
release, Bolt said the pair were "never threatened with death".


Ongoing peace talks

Bolt and Follender work for Spoorloos, a 
programme on Kro- Ncrv TV that helps Dutch people 
trace their biological relatives around the world.

Their capture was the latest in a series of incidents 
that officials feared could disrupt peace talks 
between the ELN and the government.

Earlier this week, the government's chief negotiator 
with the ELN gave warning that the kidnapping complicated
negotiations with the group that began in February.

In May 2016, ELN fighters kidnapped a Colombian-
Spanish journalist and two Colombian TV reporters in the same region.They were handed over to intermediaries 
a few days later.

The country's biggest armed group, the FARC, is 
scheduled to complete its disarmament by June 27 
under a peace deal it signed last year.

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos said the 
FARC would complete their historic disarmament on 
Friday. He spoke during an official visit to France.

But UN observers had yet to confirm the formal end 
to the disarmament process.

The Colombian conflict erupted in 1964 when the 
FARC and the smaller ELN took up arms for rural land 
rights.

The violence drew in various anti-government and 
paramilitary forces and drug gangs, as well as state forces.

The conflict has left at least 260,000 people dead and

displaced more than seven million, according to 
authorities.