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UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 16 (Xinhua) -- The UN Mission in Colombia is now ready to begin verifying and monitoring the bilateral ceasefire and laying down of arms once the peace agreement is signed on Sept. 26, a UN spokesman said here Friday.
"The group of observers and civilian staff are being deployed in eight cities," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here, adding that by Sept. 26, around 200 women and men will begin monitoring the ceasefire.
"Mission personnel are actively meeting with local authorities, religious leaders, members of civil society, including Afro-Colombian, indigenous and women's organizations, to explain the mandate of the UN political mission," said the spokesman.
"The Mission is also working to set up the tripartite mechanism in charge of monitoring and verifying the bilateral and definitive ceasefire, and supports logistical preparation in the areas where the separation of forces, the laying down of arms and the beginning of a transition to civilian life will take place," he said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to visit Cartagena, Colombia on Sept. 26 for the signing of the historic peace agreement which ends the 50-year war between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.
