The Colombian government on Friday destroyed 18,000 weapons seized from disarming former paramilitary groups and planned to turn the weapons into artworks promoting peace.

Jose Miguel Insulza, general secretary of the Organization of American States, presided over a ceremony for smelting these weapons, which was carried out at the National Iron and Steel Company in central Boyaca province.

"We hope this act is a firm advance towards peace," said Insulza, whose organization is observing the peace process between the Colombian government and the country's right-wing paramilitary United Self-Defense Forces (AUC).

Colombia's high peace commissioner Luis Carlos Restrepo also attended the ceremony.

The AUC had fiercely fought the anti-government leftist guerrillas before joining a government-initiated peace process in 2003.

A total of 31,000 members of the group had disarmed themselves by April 2006 in exchange for amnesty granted by the government or reduced jail terms.

(Xinhua News Agency December 15, 2007)