Colombia and its second largest guerrilla group moved a step closer to negotiating the end of a 41-year uprising on Wednesday by agreeing to work on an agenda for peace talks in January, Reuters reported. Leaders of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, and negotiators from President Alvaro Uribe's government ended five days of what they termed "cordial and frank" exploratory talks on an optimistic note. "New talks will take place at the end of January 2006 in Havana," a joint communique issued on Wednesday said. "Building an agenda for peace negotiations will be one of the fundamental aspects considered at the meeting," said the statement, signed by Colombia's peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo and Antonio Garcia, the second in command of the ELN military. The group has 5,000 members. The agreement to continue discussing a framework for peace meant progress toward full fledged negotiations. The talks in Havana, hosted by the Cuban government, opened on Friday. --More 21 11 Local Time 18 11 GMT
