UN removes last container holding Colombia rebel arms

FONSECA (AP):

The last of more than 8,000 guns once carried by the guerrillas of Colombia's largest rebel army have been removed from 26 demobilisation sites around the South American nation.

United Nations observers began removing the locked containers filled with worn guerrilla rifles in late July. Yesterday, the final container was taken from a transition zone in northern Colombia.

Some of the guns will be smelted and transformed into statues commemorating the end to Latin America's longest-running conflict.

Former rebels with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia finished turning over their individual weapons in late June. Since then, they have been locked up and guarded by UN observers.

Rebels agreed to turn over their weapons as part of a historic peace deal reached with the government last year.