​​​​​​​BOGOTA, Colombia

The Colombian government announced Friday the beginning of peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) dissident rebel faction known as the Segunda Marquetalia.

The announcement was made by Otty Patino, Colombian High Commissioner for Peace, and dissident FARC leader Ivan Marquez.

​​"We agree on the need to carry out an orderly, agile, rigorous, and respectful peace process, which provides tranquility and certainty to Colombian society in the genuine commitment to political solution and peacebuilding," according to a joint statement.

The armed group vowed not to carry out kidnappings for extortion purposes and made plans to create border peace zones to stimulate economies.

"The Segunda Marquetalia reiterates its commitment, expressed in the founding Manifesto of August 2019, to completely stop abductions for economic purposes," it said.

The armed group, made up of combatants who left the 2016 peace agreement and took up arms again, is believed to have 1,663 fighters and is considered the hard wing of the dissident factions.

Marquez was the FARC chief negotiator for peace talks held with the government of Juan Manuel Santos in Havana, which concluded with the signing of the peace agreement.

The group had until now remained outside the negotiations that leftist President Gustavo Petro is holding with the majority of the country's armed organizations.

Petro wants to put an end to six decades of internal armed conflict that has killed more than 450,000 victims and displaced millions.

Cuba, Norway and Venezuela have been called to mediate negotiations and the UN and the Catholic Church will accompany the conversations, for which the agenda has yet to be defined.