Peace talks with FARC rebels set to resume, says Colombia

Colombian authorities will sit down with FARC rebels Monday for the resumption of once-threatened peace talks, the chief government negotiator has confirmed.

President Juan Manuel Santos will send his team back to discussions hosted by Cuba having verified that FARC was likewise prepared to head back to the negotiating table, Humberto de la Calle, a former vice president of Colombia, said.

"It was carefully noted that FARC had taken the decision to return on Monday at half past eight in the morning to the talks table to continue deliberations as normal," Calle said.

Over the weekend, rebels killed 13 soldiers in an attack on a Colombian army patrol along the northeastern border with Venezuela, according to Colombia army. 

The assault came on the heels of a separate incident on Wednesday claimed by the FARC's 10th Front that left 15 soldiers dead.

And in May, a FARC attack killed 11 troops.

FARC, or the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, is a Marxist–rebel organisation that has been fighting the Colombian army since 1964.

Santos' decision on Friday to recall his team in Havana came after FARC declared a pause in talks to study a government proposal on how to ratify a final peace accord. 

Santos has said he wants talks concluded by the end of the year.

FARC has insisted a constituent assembly be formed and be charged with incorporating the content of the peace deals into the country’s constitution. The government has rejected that demand.

The fighters have also proposed a bilateral ceasefire during the talks, but the government has rejected the proposal, saying it could be used to strengthen the insurgency militarily.

FARC claims to be an armed peasant movement with an anti-imperialism agenda inspired by Bolivarianism.

The group now has about 8,000 fighters, according to the Defence Ministry.

A government commission last month estimated that 220,000 people have lost their lives in the nearly 50-year-old conflict.

Other estimates run as high as 600,000 dead.

Al Jazeera and wire services