Peace talks were suspended since last August

But many are happy they are taking place at all after the Colombian Government suspended negotiations with the ELN in August 2000.

Contacts between the two sides continued with the help of the Cuban Government late last year to try to get the talks back on track.

President Fidel Castro attended the inauguration of the talks and afterwards said both Colombia and Latin America needed peace.

Two ELN prisoners have been allowed to travel to Cuba to represent their colleagues.

Territory dispute

Senior members of the government, the Roman Catholic church, trade unions and international observers are also attending the three-day meeting.

Among other things, they are discussing the role of the international community in the peace process and what have been the achievements and failures since talks between the Colombian Government and the ELN began in 1998.

Mr Castro said Colombia needed peace

President Pastrana suspended them because no agreement could be reached about granting the ELN their own territory to administer in the north of the country.

But both sides seem to agree that that issue is not now on the table, after the government's experience with the country's main rebel group, the FARC. Early this month, the government ordered the FARC out of their safe haven, but a deal was later signed to reach a truce by 7 April.

As the talks opened, both sides spoke about the need for peace in Colombia.

But the real test - and the test they have failed up to now - is to put their fine words into practice.