Havana, Mar 30 (EFE).- The peace delegations of the Colombian government and the FARC announced Saturday that the continuation of peace talks in Cuba, originally scheduled for April 2, will be delayed until the end of April. Meanwhile the two sides will work "separately" on pending elements of the agrarian problem.

By Jeff Franks HAVANA (Reuters) - Colombia and the Marxist FARC rebels have made strides toward striking an accord on land reform, but disagreements remain, the two sides said on Thursday at the end of their latest round of peace talks. Former Vice President Humberto de la Calle said he hoped they could settle the issue quickly when they meet again on April 2, but the rebels said in a news conference they were still adding proposals, which now number 90, for the government to consider.

Colombia's government on Thursday rejected calls by the leftist FARC guerrilla group to demilitarize rural areas in Colombia, saying that and other issues were beyond the scope of ongoing peace talks. "The government is not going to start negotiating on new topics," peace talks representative Humberto De la Calle told reporters, as the two sides prepared to take an 11-day break. "I'm referring, for example, to the issue raised by the FARC on 'demilitarizing the rural areas.' This issue is not part of the discussions," said De la Calle as he prepared to return to Bogota.

Colombia's leftist FARC rebels said Wednesday that an end to Latin America's longest-running armed conflict would only come about as a result of policies providing for social "justice." The Colombian government has been holding talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Cuba since November in a bid to end a conflict that began as a peasant revolt against inequality in the 1960s.