The Colombian government and the country's largest drug-trafficking gang inked an agreement in Qatar on Friday committing to further talks aimed at the paramilitary group's eventual disarmament and peace in territories under its control.The Clan del Golfo, which has origins in right-wing paramilitary organisations and calls itself the Gaitanista Army of Colombia, is responsible for shipping hundreds of tonnes of cocaine annually to the United States and Europe, according to Colombian military intelligence.
The group of 7,500 members poses one of the main security challenges faced by the country's leftist government and has been engaged in talks with the Bogota government aimed at demobilisation in exchange for judicial benefits and security guarantees.
Colombia's President Gustavo Petro has sought, since his election in 2022, to negotiate the disarmament and demobilisation of various groups in the Latin American nation, the world's largest producer of cocaine.
"Colombia chooses negotiated peace and thanks all the nations that accompany us on this path," government representative Agueda Gomez said ahead of the signing.
The agreement, the so-called "Commitment to Peace in Doha", was mediated by Qatar, Norway, Switzerland and Spain.
The mediators explained that the commitment signed by the two parties worked on two tracks.
The first would deal with drug production and the recruitment of adolescents and children from the Clan del Golfo across 15 designated territories.
The second track is to reintegrate child soldiers into society.
"This process demonstrates the commitment of the joint command... to peace with the territories, the persons deprived of liberty in national and international prisons belonging to the Gaitanista Army of Colombia," the group's representative Luis Armando Perez Castaneda said.
The Clan del Golfo considers itself a political group and demands to be recognised as such, in part, to receive judicial treatment similar to that of guerrillas and paramilitary squads.
It is the largest illegal armed group in Colombia, following the historic peace agreement with the now-defunct FARC guerrilla group in 2016.
"This declaration represents a step towards the disarmament... and then the building of peace," Qatar's chief negotiator Mohammed Al-Khulaifi said.
"There will remain many obstacles and challenges that must be overcome, and we will continue our role as mediators in order to help the two parties take additional steps," he added.
