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Colombia's President Juan Manuel
Santos was sworn in to a second term on Thursday promising to
bring peace and equality to the nation, but warned Marxist
rebels that talks to end five decades of war could rupture if
hostilities against civilians continue.

"Members of the FARC: you have been warned!" he said.

Santos bet his political legacy on ending a conflict with
the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that has
killed more than 200,000 people, displaced millions and left
great swathes of rural terrain seeded with land mines.

But even though he was elected on a platform of peace and
benefited from progress in talks, the FARC has angered
Colombians in recent weeks with an increase in attacks that have
left a heavy economic and social price tag.

"Acts of peace, that's what the Colombian people ask for
today," Santos said after receiving the sash of office and
asking the FARC to stop all violence against women and children.

"I will employ all my energy to bring peace during this
mandate."

The center-right Santos pledged to build on four years of
economic growth, improvements in health and education and a make
a bigger stride toward equality in a nation that has one of the
world's widest income gaps.

"Imagine for a minute, a country in total peace, with
equality and with the highest level of education in the region,"
he told 11 heads of state and other dignitaries at the ceremony.

The former journalist won re-election in June with the aid
of leftist parties that back negotiations to end the war. In an
unusual display of solidarity, they joined forces with Santos to
block former President Alvaro Uribe's right-wing candidate, who
had sought to scrap talks. Negotiations began in late 2012.

Although Santos wants his second mandate to move the nation
toward a post-conflict era, it will likely be a bitter four
years.

Uribe - voted recently to the Senate - has invigorated the
opposition, trimming Santos' majority in Congress and probably
complicating passage of key reforms and peace-related deals.

Uribe and his Democratic Center party did not attend the
swearing-in ceremony.

A still-popular strong man, Uribe is a bitter rival of
Santos and vehemently against the negotiations, preferring to
defeat the group on the battlefield instead of allowing it a
peaceful entry into society and a possible role in politics.

Any agreement with the FARC - which began its armed struggle
in 1964 - must first go to a referendum and then to Congress for
the passage of laws that would deal with the implementation of
peace. He is also in exploratory peace talks with the smaller
rebel group, the National Liberation Army (ELN).

While Santos, the scion of one of Colombia's most powerful
families, won re-election promising an end to the war, 45
percent of voters backed his rival and sought an end to the
talks.

Uribe's party will likely try to obstruct legislation that
would enable FARC rebels to enter the political system without
serving considerable jail time.

(Additional reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Editing by Lisa
Shumaker)