Bogotá, September 30 (RHC-telesur)-- In Colombia, the National Liberation Army has announced a temporary and bilateral cease-fire with the government of President Juan Manuel Santos.

The group, known by its Spanish initials ELN, said that the cease-fire will be implemented from October 1, 2017 to January 9, 2018.

In a message on the YouTube channel, ELN Paz, Commander Nicolas Rodriguez Bautista ordered ELN members to abide by the cease-fire agreed to in September during peace talks in Quito, Ecuador.

“Commanders, officers, colleagues, today — September 29 — I order all troops along the length and breadth of the national territory to stop all offensive activities to comply entirely with the bilateral cease-fire that the Colombian government and the ELN have pledged to uphold,” said Bautista.

“I have no doubt of your loyalty in fulfilling this commitment at all cost,” he added.

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said that the cease-fire was an extremely important step forward, a step that in his own words “will be the first step toward a process that will also lead to the ELN disarming as the FARC have done.”

The ELN took up arms in 1964 and is the last active rebel group in Colombia.