Majority of Colombians back peace deal with FARC: poll

A majority of Colombians look set to back the government's peace deal with the FARC rebels in a referendum next month, a key step in ending the 52-year conflict, a poll showed Friday. The government of President Juan Manuel Santos has asked Colombians to vote on October 2 on this question: "Do you support the final accord to end the conflict and build a stable and lasting peace?" The August 24 peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) will only be ratified if the "yes" camp passes the threshold of 4.4 million votes -- 13 percent of the electorate. A strong majority -- 59.5 percent of the people surveyed -- said they would vote "yes" in support of the agreement, according to the Datexco poll conducted for El Tiempo newspaper and W Radio. That was nearly double the number of those opposed to the deal, at 33.2 percent, while 4.7 percent said they were undecided and 2.6 percent had no opinion. The Datexco telephone survey, conducted with 2,019 adults in various parts of the country on August 31 and September 1, has a margin of error of 2.13 percent. It is not yet know when the peace deal will be formally signed. Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin said this week that the United Nations had invited Santos and FARC leader Timoleon "Timochenko" Jimenez to sign it at the UN General Assembly in New York, which opens on September 20. Once the deal is formally signed, the FARC will have 180 days to demobilize, disarm and relaunch itself as a political party. The UN has agreed to monitor the process. The government and FARC began a landmark ceasefire Monday, the first time both sides have put down their weapons since the Marxist guerrilla group was launched in 1964. The conflict, which has drawn in various left- and right-wing armed groups and gangs, has left 260,000 dead, 45,000 missing and 6.9 million uprooted from their homes.