COLOMBIA’S communist former rebels will form a “grand front” for peace in next year’s presidential elections, guerilla leader Timochenko has said.

His comments came before tomorrow’s resumption of the long-stalled peace talks with Colombia’s second-largest rebel army, the National Liberation Army (ELN), in Ecuador’s capital Quito.

Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) commander Rodrigo Londono, better known by his nom-deguerre Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez, made his comments in an interview with Argentinian magazine Crisis.