WORLD IN BRIEF : COLOMBIA : M-19 Group May Lay Down Its Arms

Colombia’s best-known leftist guerrilla group, M-19, will lay down its arms Dec. 15 if the government honors the terms of a peace agreement, its leader said. Commander Carlos Pizarro said in a radio interview that the group would hand over its weapons to an international organization, but he gave no further details. According to a local television report, the guerrillas have invited U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar to witness the demobilization. Colombia is set to sign a “political pact for peace and democracy” with the guerrillas Thursday, laying down the conditions for an amnesty. The group is the only one of Colombia’s six rebel organizations that agreed to negotiate with Bogota under a 1988 peace plan.