Santos calls for Colombia peace deal to be fulfilled as UN narrows mission

Juan Manuel Santos used the Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture to call for full implementation of Colombia’s 2016 peace agreement, a week after the UN Security Council reduced the scope of international verification.

The former Colombian president delivered the lecture at the Cape Town International Convention Centre on 6 November. The Nelson Mandela Foundation published the full text on 9 November. Hosted with One Young World, the event addressed the theme “When is Silence Complicity?”

Santos drew on his recollection of meeting Mandela in 1996 and on the negotiations that produced Colombia’s 2016 agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known as the FARC. He defended confidential early talks, while arguing that leaders eventually have to explain and defend a settlement publicly. “Peace sometimes needs silence to take root,” he said.

His account also acknowledged the rejection of the first agreement in the 2016 referendum. He described the subsequent dialogue, revisions and congressional approval as part of the work of keeping the process alive.

On 30 October, the Security Council renewed the UN Verification Mission in Colombia until 31 October 2027. Resolution 2833 retains the work established under resolution 2366 of 2017. Santos did not discuss the new resolution in the published lecture.

The previous renewal, resolution 2798 of 2025, had also expressly retained verification of section 1 of the peace agreement, covering comprehensive rural reform. That reference is absent from the new mandate.

The remaining mandate covers the former FARC’s political, economic and social reintegration, personal and collective security guarantees, and protection programmes for communities and organisations in conflict-affected territories.

The UK, which voted for the renewal, presented the change as a transfer of rural reform to domestic institutions. In its 30 October explanation of vote, ambassador Sarah MacIntosh cited Colombia’s stated commitments to formalised land ownership, infrastructure and economic opportunities for rural communities. She also reaffirmed support for implementing every chapter of the agreement.