BOGOTA, Sept. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe stressed Monday the National Liberation Army (ELN) should declare a ceasefire if it wants to initiate a peace process with the government.

    "When people are subject to extortion and kidnapping, there cannot be any peace process with illegal armed groups," said Uribe.

    His words were in response to an ELN communique in which the armed group asked the government for amnesty and a temporary and bilateral ceasefire to start a peace process.

    The Peace Commission of the Civil Society remarked that the communications between the government and the ELN showed a will for peace, but there is a distance between their primary goals.

    The Central Command of the ELN has said the government's proposal did not offer a response to any of the 17 items presentedby the rebel organization on June 4.

    The ELN is the country's second largest guerrilla organization in Colombia after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. It has over 4,000 combatants.

    Colombia has been plagued by a four-decade civil war, in which leftist rebels, far-right paramilitary and government troops fighteach other. An average of 3,500 people were killed every year. Enditem