Neglecting existence of internal armed conflict threatens efforts to fight against guerrillas: Santos

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Saturday that neglecting the existence of an internal armed conflict would undermine the country's efforts to fight against rebel guerrillas.

"If we say that there is no internal armed conflict, it restricts operational capabilities of our (military) forces ... If we say that there is no internal armed conflict, we can not bomb the leaders of the guerrillas, their camps," the president said.

Santos reaffirmed that ignorance to an armed conflict in the country would make it ever more difficult to fight against guerrillas as the problem has been lingering for so many years.

The president is mulling a new legislation on this subject in which terms of "internal armed conflict" was being considered. But some worry that the use of such a term would give legitimacy to the existence of the rebel militants.

Santos has been seeking to wipe out the rebel militant groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the county.

The FARC, the oldest and largest rebel group in Colombia, has been fighting the government forces for control of the country since the group was founded in 1964.

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