BOGOTA, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Monday appealed to his countrymen to continue supporting the government's peace talks with armed leftist rebels in an effort to put an end to nearly five decades of fighting.

　　"I ask you to support me in this peace process. This is not my peace, it's not my government's peace, it is your peace, it belongs to Colombians, and that is why we need everyone, everyone, to support us in the search for peace," Santos said in an official ceremony in the city of Santa Marta in northern Magdalena department.

　　His endeavor to peacefully resolve the 50-year insurgency of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group has come under heavy criticism from former hard-line President Alvaro Uribe. Uribe, who waged a fierce military campaign against the FARC during his 2002-2010 presidency, vehemently opposes the peace talks and has said the rebels must be obliterated through military action.

　　Santos said opponents of the peace process should respect the wishes of the majority of Colombians who want a negotiated settlement with the FARC.

　　Santos said he was determined to put an end to Colombia's civil war, which pits the "children of one nation" against each other, and has prevented the South American country from making progress.

　　"Fifty years of a war that has led to loss of blood, that has caused wounds that we are trying to heal through the Law of Victims, by paying reparations to the victims, returning to the peasants the lands that were taken from them at gun point," he said.

　　The peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC got under way in Havana in November 2012. Santos, who is running for reelection in 2014, has said he wanted the talks to conclude by the end of this year.

　　The two sides have so far agreed on two of five negotiating points -- rural development and political participation. The three remaining issues are reparations for the victims of the fighting, the FARC's ties to drug trafficking and disarmament.