( L - R ) Restrepo and Garcia

HAVANA (AP):

The Colombian government and the country's second largest rebel group yesterday announced they ended exploratory talks and were launching a formal peace process.

Colombia's peace envoy and the head of the National Liberation Army, or ELN, said in a statement they had agreed to work on creating a peaceful environment to promote successful talks and to include independent members of Colombian society in formal talks. Both sides presented proposals for topics to be discussed in the next phase, but specifics were not immediately available.

Peace Commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo and ELN military chief Antonio Garcia delivered their brief announcement to reporters and then retired behind closed doors with representatives of other countries helping to mediate the process.

They said they would answer journalists' questions after that meeting. Both sides agreed in the statement that the latest round of discussions wrapping up in Havana yesterday took place "in an environment of constructive dialogue and political maturity." The ELN, Colombia's largest rebel group after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has been fighting the government since the 1960s for social changes.