Bogota, January 13 (NNN-RHC) –- Colombian government representatives and members of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla rebels are to begin their next round of peace negotiations on January 26th.

The renewal of talks will be preceded by a technical preparatory meeting starting on January 18th and could last three to four days, government sources said on Sunday. A similar meeting held in December was seen as the first step towards resuming negotiations that had been suspended after the guerrillas captured a Colombian general in November.

In case the technical meeting goes on for more days than scheduled, the date for resumption of talks could also be postponed, the sources added.

The negotiating team will return to Havana, where the peace talks are being held, with instructions to hasten the conversations in order to end the armed conflict once and for all and as quickly as possible, President Juan Manuel Santos said last week.

The government and the FARC have already reached agreements on three of the five points on the negotiating table.

Agreements have been reached on political participation, land, and drugs and illegal cultivation, while the process of bringing an end to the conflict and negotiations regarding the victims continue to remain on the agenda.

Currently, there is an indefinite and unilateral ceasefire on the part of the rebels which started December 20th, and they have called on the government to suspend the offensive against them.

Despite Santos rejecting the possibility of suspending actions against the FARC, he said that the advances in the talks have changed the circumstances and the disconnection between military action and the peace talks would not be continued.