Colombia's foreign minister told the United Nations Security Council on Monday that Bogotá wants rural reform removed from the mandate of the UN mission monitoring its 2016 peace deal with the FARC, a Marxist guerrilla army. Omar Bula spoke at his first Council session as foreign minister. He said the mission should continue, but limit its work to two tasks: reintegrating former FARC fighters and delivering the security guarantees promised in the agreement.
Time is short. The mandate expires on 31 October 2026, 17 days from today, and the Council hadn't set a vote date by Monday.
The Request
Bula called rural reform a structural public policy that belongs permanently within Colombia's own institutions, not under an outside monitor's watch. "Our commitment remains intact," he told the 15-member Council. The land chapter, the first part of the 2016 deal, promises land, roads and services for poor farming regions. The Council added it to the mission's duties in 2023. Bula said the Council would make the final decision and Colombia wasn't trying to change any resolution unilaterally. Colombia holds one of the Council's 10 elected seats for 2026 and 2027.
Washington Backs Ownership
U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Bartos, the U.S. representative for UN management and reform, welcomed "Colombia's determination to take ownership of rural reform." He said the mission should retain its core verification work and field presence. Bartos said the Council should "focus on core mandates, and deliver results rather than perpetuate missions indefinitely." He also praised President Abelardo De la Espriella for ending peace talks with armed groups inherited from his left-wing predecessor, Gustavo Petro.
The United States holds a permanent seat and a veto. During the 2025 renewal, it insisted on removing two tasks: the peace deal's chapter on ethnic communities and sentences from its special peace court. Bartos said Washington had sent more than US$26.5 million in aid after a 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit Colombia on 10 August, and said it looked forward to a deeper security partnership against groups that had preyed on "Colombians and Americans alike."
The Security Record
Bula presented stark figures to the Council. He said 132,930 people were murdered in Colombia between July 2016 and August 2026. He cited nearly 100,000 extortion cases and more than 2,750 kidnappings. Armed groups, he said, had grown from about 6,000 to almost 30,000 members since the peace deal. Coca covered about 253,000 hectares in 2023, roughly 980 square miles.
Miroslav Jenča, the UN Secretary-General's special representative who leads the mission, described a similar picture. Citing government data given to Colombia's Congress, he said illegal armed groups grew from about 15,000 members in 2022 to roughly 28,000. Some 501 former FARC fighters have died since 2016, the latest on 22 September in the northern province of Cesar. Jenča also condemned the 1 September killing of two community leaders in Cauca, in the southwest.
The mission began in 2017 and runs 29 offices nationwide. More than 11,000 former FARC members remain in reintegration, and they've started about 6,000 productive projects and 300 cooperatives, from coffee to tourism. Jenča said development plans monitored by the mission help extend the state into conflict zones.
Open Questions on Land Policy
Bula pointed to 119 extraditions signed by the president as cooperation against transnational drug trafficking. In August, Agriculture Minister Indalecio Dangond announced a 90-day pause on land handovers and titling for review. Bula said the Agriculture Ministry had legal tools to continue land policy but didn't name any outside body to monitor it.
Britain, which drafts the Council's texts on Colombia, was preparing a resolution and already talking to Colombia, El Tiempo reported. In 2025, most other Council members wanted to retain the two tasks Washington removed, according to Security Council Report, a New York research group. A new resolution needs nine of 15 votes and no veto. The mission monitors the peace deal; it isn't a security force.
Why This Matters:
A decade after the 2016 deal, figures presented by Colombia's own government show armed groups multiplying and violence persisting, giving a refocus on security real weight. The request tests a principle conservatives have long pressed: international missions shouldn't run indefinitely, and governments should own the policies they're elected to carry out. But it raises a fair question, too. With land titling paused for 90 days and no outside monitor named, Colombia will ask investors, farmers and allies to trust its institutions without an external check. Whether Bogotá can deliver results on land and security without international oversight will shape its credibility, while the Council's vote will signal how much deference elected governments get.