Colombia ELN hostage release 'under way'

Mr Sanchez, believed to be the ELN's last hostage, appeared in a video on Colombia's RCN TV channel on Wednesday

Colombia's second-biggest rebel group has begun the process of releasing a hostage, a key condition for the start of peace talks with the government, officials say.

 

Former congressman Odin Sanchez has been held by the National Liberation Army (ELN) since he volunteered to swap places with his ill brother in April. The peace talks were due to begin on Thursday in Ecuador.


But President Juan Manuel Santos said Mr Sanchez had to be released first. The government remained committed to "advancing with this process", he added.